AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22518, 12 March 1935, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

GRAND THEATRE Based on Mary Roberts Rinehart's , widely-read novel of the same name, " Elinor Norton," the principal feature on this week's bill at the Grand Theatre, unfolds a dramatic story that loses nothing in its telling by an unusually capable cast. The beautiful and talented Claire Trevor is cast in the principal role, and in selecting her to head the cast the producers have made an admirable choice. Thoroughly at home in a part that bristles with difficulties, she gives a convincing and realistic portrayal of the young ivhose marriage has been the forerunner of a long struggle to remain loyal to a husband who is doing his best to ruin their lives by his insane jealousy and intolerance. Although the story is essentially pure drama, it is enlightened at times by some really clever comedy, and some remarkably fine photography provides delightful scenic backgrounds for the theme. The supporting picture is " Frontier Marshal," a fullblooded, exciting Western story, with George O'Brien in the leading role. O'Brien enacts the part of a stranger who, arriving in the mining town of Tombstone, Arizona, finds himself Bomcwhat against his will elected to the post of marshal. The mayor of the town is in league with the band of outlaws who have given the town a particularly bad name, and at the outset O'Brien finds himself faced with no enviable task. How he eventually brings the criminals to justice and makes the town fit for honest men to live in make an engrossing and thrilling narrative. The supporting cast, which is a strong one, includes George E. Stone, Alan Edwards, Irene Bentley, and Jerry Foster. The box plans are the theatre and Begg's. REGENT THEATRE "Girls Will Be Boys," which is at present being screened at the Regent Theatre, is one of the most delightful and hilarious productions offered for some considerable time. A British film, it serves to introduce to the screen the Continental actress, Dolly Haas. Dainty, attractive, and brimming over with personality, she is given a part which enables her to display her versatility to the fullest extent. Whether as a "boy" or as a charming young lady, she is equally at home, and gives a portrayal that will win her many admirers. The story briefly concerns the desire of the surviving member of an old family to have a male heir. Unknown to him, Pat Caverley, an attractive young actress, is his granddaughter, and she decides to adopt the role of a grandson in order to convert the old man from the views he holds against women. The result is easy to imagine. As a boy she enters the house, and is forced to indulge in nil the manly pursuits beloved by her grandfather.. She shares' the company of his worldly friends, smokes, drinks, fishes, and goes in for physical training in the gymnasium, and her efforts to keep her identity a secret provide the onportunity for many piquant situations. Even when she drops her masquerade as a man and appears before the duke as a eirl. he only thinks she is posing as one. The final denouement is as skilfully planned as the sequences which lead up to it. Cyril Maude as the Duke of Bridgewater, gives a perfect cameo of the eccentric old peer, and Esmond Knight. Trene Vanbrugh, Edward Chapman, Ronald Ward, and Charles Palon are all excellent in minor roles. The supporting programme is an interesting and varied one. The box plans for the season will be found at the theatre and the D.T.C.

I "THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO." "The Count of Monte Cristo," the Alexandre Dumas's novel which lias thrilled millions of readers in every civilised country in the world, will be screened at the Regent Theatre ou Friday. Produced on a lavish scale with a score of principals and hundreds of supporting' players, it offers Robert Donat, handsome young English actor (whom film fans will recall in " The Private Life of Henry VIII"), the greatest role an artist could wish for. Louis Calhern, Sidney Blnekmer, 0. P. Heggie, Irene Hcrvey, William Farnum. and Raymond Walburn head the supporting east. Elissa Landi plays the part of Mercedes opposite Donat. The story of Edmond Dantes, the young Frenchman, torn from his sweetheart's arms by his enemies and unjustly imprisoned and left to rot in the grim Chateau D'lf, is made to order for Donat, and Elissa Landi is admirably cast as the girl Mercedes. When Dantes has lost hope of ever seeing daylight again, the sago, old Abbe Faris. who occupies the next cell, tells him of a secret treasure buried on the Island of Monte Cristo, and educates him so that when he finally escapes he may face the world as a superman. Dantes escapes, locates the treasure, and returns a fabulously wealthy man. to visit a slow and sweet revenge on the three enemies who were responsible for his misery. As a _ film " The Count of Monte Cristo " is said to bo the greatest entertainment the screen has yet produced. EMPIRE THEATRE A fast-moving tale of the American sailor. " Here Comes the Navy," which is the main attraction on the current programme at the Empire Theatre, forms the nucleus of most enjoyable entertainment. The co-operation of the United States Navy in the filming of the production has resulted in some outstanding scenes of the fleet both in port and during manoeuvres, and of the giant dirigible, Macon. The. story concerns the adventures of a riveter, " Chesty" O'Connor, who is always at war with a chief petty-officer of the navy. After the latter has succeeded in winning over O'Connor's sweetheart, and has defeated the riveter in a fight. O'Connor follows him into the navy. Although he has decided not to have anything more to do with women, he falls in love with the petty-officer's sister. Her brother returns when O'Connor is in the house, and warns him to keep away. O'Connor's resultant defiance earns him court martial and disgrace, but he makes up for this by personal bravery in quenching a fire in a gun turret during manceuvres. He is then transferred to the naval dirigible Macon. How the feud between the two men is finally settled and how O'Connor wins higher rank and the girl he loves make a satisfactory climax._ James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Gloria Stuart handle the leading roles in a capable manner. There is a strong supporting programme, and the box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.

"BELLE OF THE NINETIES." Mae West, who admits that she is at her best: when she ie acting' a woman at her worst is at her very best in her newest and gayest contribution to the screen, " Belle of the Nineties," which will be screened at the Empire Theatre on Friday. As the queen of hearts and diamonds who takes Dixie by 6torm and charm, Miss West returns to the period of the gay and naughty nineties in a lavishly-dressed, handsomely-mounted, and thoroughly engrossing entertainment. Surrounded by three new " tall, dark, and handsomes," Koger Pryor, John Mack Brown, and John Miljan, with Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Katherine DeMille, Libby Taylor, Stuart Holmes, and Warren Hymer in the supporting cast. Miss West acts the part of a St. Louis burlesque queen who goes down to New Orleans to win the hearts of the Southern cavaliers.' In New Orleans she encounters Miljan, who, as the proprietor of the south's most famous night club, lays6iege to her heart and her diamonds. John Mack Brown enters into the picture as the unsophisticated youth who pours nduiation on Misg West and gems at her feet. As the plot moves forward Miss West falls in love with Roger Pryor, a current fistic hero, and later, because 6he believes that he has double-crossed her, causes him to lose his most important fight. But it all ends happily, with Miljan, the true villain, getting his just* deserts and Pryor and Miss West happily reunited. Against a background of music provided by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Miss West singe several new songs written for her by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow. STATE THEATRE A powerfully-dramatic story cast in a sombre mould is the current attraction at the State Theatre. " Bella Donna " is a film adaptation of the famous novel of the same name, written by the popular author Robert Hichcns. It is noteworthy for the strength of its. cast, a necessary •point since the story is of such a nature that it could only be acceptably handled by good artiste. Conrad Veidt, undoubtedly one of the most prominent of screen actors, has a leading role as Baroudi, the Egyptian lover. He is a striking and sinister figure, but, outstanding though his work is, the film is not a one-man picture. The heroine. Mary Ellis, has her first screen role in the production, but she succeeds magnificently in a most unsympathetic task, that of portraying a woman whose beauty deserves the title of "Bella Donna." and whose character contains much the same elements ne the drug of the same name. There are two other leading roles in the film, and these are filled by Sir' Cedric Hardwicke and John Stuart with all the competence with which their names are synonvmous. The story deals with the last fall of an evil woniari. She has married a fine man, but she is beyond reeeneration, and easily falls under the influence of a strange Egyptian during a visit to the Nile. Yielding to his suggestion she commences gradually to poison her husband, but his illness attracts an old medical friend to his sjde. The doctor at once sees what is happening, and reveals the truth, and the sombrencss of the drama rises to its inexorable close; The box • plans are at the theatre and at • Begg's. ST. JAMES THEATRE " The Notorious Sophie Lang," the current attraction at the St. James Theatre, has crime as its theme, but it is quite different from the ordinary run of such films. The criminals are not gangsters or thieves who haunt low and sinister dens and ruined castles; they are highly polished and presentable individuals who relieve victims of their spoil in the most considerate manner possible and they never move in any but the highest circles of society. The result is that the film is really a sparkling and fast-moving comedy. The lavish display of jewellery by New York society attracts a notorious thief (Paul Cavanaugh), whose exploits cause another celebrated thief, Sophie Lang (Gertrude Michael), to enter into competition with him, and eoon the whol'J of the New York police force is at its wits' end to know how to combat this dual menace. Cavanaugh finds that his rival is as expert at stealing hearts as at stealing jewels, but the course of true Ipve is unusually hard. Cavanaugh has a suave manner which admirably suits his part, and Gertrude Michael has a charming manner and maintains her role with dex terity. The box plans arc at the theatre, Jacobs's, the D.1.C., and M'Cracken and Walls's. OCTAGON THEATRE The crowded houses that have greeted "The Good Companions" since the opening of its second Dunedin season at the Octagon Theatre are, other considerations apart, sufficient guarantee of the quality of the picture. Based on J. B. Priestley's famous novel, the film follows the book more closely than is generally the case with screen versions of famous stories, and all the delightful character drawing and the fresh, breezy atmosphere of the novel have been retained. Fascinating and vivacious. Jessie Matthews has the leading role—that of Susie Dean — and as a piece of perfect actjng her performance is outstanding. She is the dainty, cheery-hearted little star of "The Good Companions," the carefree and happy little company of strolling players for whom the open road has an everpersistent call. This talented little player has the rare gift of merging herself so perfectly into her character that it is only when the final scene closes that one realises she has been acting, and her magnetic personality captures and holds her audience throughout. The leading male part is in the capable hands of Edmund Gwenn, who has the role of old Jess Oakroyd, a very delightful but somewhat erratic person. It is a role that bristles with difficulties, but Gwenn is equal to them all, and in his own inimitable manner he scores a triumph that is little less than that of Miss Matthews. Throughout his performance is characterised by a vigour and virile naturalness that are sustained from his first appearance until the final scene, and into his work he introduces a good deal of quiet comedy in a manner that stamps him as an actor of outstanding ability. An attractive programme of short subjects supports the main picture. The box

plans are ;it the theatre, M'Cracken and I Walls's, and l Bess's. " Huia " is the one butter delivered to grocers fresh daily from the churn.— 17/3/34.