AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22904, 11 June 1936, Page 6

AMUSEMENTS

STATE THEATRE

Founded on the authentic story of Dr Samuel Mudd, one of the most tragic figures in American history, “ The Prisoner of Shark Island,” a dramatic and realistic film dealing with the Lincoln conspiracy, is the principal attraction on the current bill at the State Theatre. Warner Baxter is the leading player of this drama, which opens after the Civil War with the assassination of Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth, whose leg was broken in the leap to the stage, flees into Maryland to receive aid from a simple country doctor. When the fury of the nation over this crime is unleashed, Baxter is arrested, tried with Booth’s accomplices, and sent to an unknown fate on Shark Island, a fortress-prison on a sun-baked reef in the Carribcan. How after suffering degradation and almost unbelievable cruelty, he copes with rebellious soldiers, forces fearful ship captains to bring him supplies, and finally wins the gratitude of the men of Shark Island and freedom for himself is revealed in the astounding, action-filled climax of the picture. John Ford brought "The Prisoner of Shark Island ” to the screen under the personal supervision of' Darryl F. Zanuck*. Gloria Stuart acts the leading feminine role, and Arthur Byron, Claude Gillingwater, and 0. P. Heggie head the supporting cast of more than 1000 players. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s.

"THE LITTLEST REBEL.” Clad in pantalettes and crinolines, Shirley Temple is currently enacting the most lovable of Confederates in that grand story of the Civil War, “The Littlest Rebel,” which will open at the State Theatre to-morrow. Because of its dramatic suspense and its many scenes of tender pathos, "The Littlest Rebel ” gives Shirley her first real opportunity as a dramatic actress, while her capacity for song, dance and laughter docs not usually fail to astonish and delight audiences. The picture, from Darryl F. Zanuck’s 20th Century-Fox studios, follows closely the outlines of the play from which it was adapted. John Boles and Karen Morlcy play Shirley’s parents, while Jack Holt is cast as the gallant Union officer who attempts to aid Shirley and her father in an escape after her mother succumbs to the rigours of war. The dramatic force of the picture is heightened by the interludes of song and dance. Bill Robinson, the lovable champion of tap dance, again assists little Shirley in a series of intricate and delightful routines. Her songs, including that beautiful classic, "Believe Me if All those Endearing Young Charms,” are surpassed Vby a new number, “ Polly Wolly Doodle,” by Sidney Clare and B, G. DeSylva, who also served as assistant producer on the picture. Guinn Williams, Willie _ Best and Frank M‘Glynn, sen., are important members of the featured cast of this picture, directed by David Butler.

REGENT.THEATRE

To-day will afford the final opportunity of witnessing “ Strike Me Pink,” the hilarious comedy featuring Eddie Cantor, which for the past week has proved a popular attraction at the Regent Theatre. " Strike Me Pink ” is unquestionably one of the best comedies in which the popular comedian ha s yet appeared, and as the timid young man, who, by taking a course in personal magnetism, sufficiently overcomes his shyness to take charge of an amusement park, he is given abundant opportunity of exploiting the whimsical brand of humour which lie has made peeuliary his own. Spectacular ballets, amusing and diverting situations and, above all, the clowning of the principal, combine effectively to provide entertainment which instantly wins public favour. With the thousand and One amusement devices of Coney Island at his disposal. Cantor is at his best, and his efforts to fight off a gang of criminals who are endeavouring to install fraudulent slot machines in the park, are ludicrously funny. In an exciting climax he is pursued by his enemies, and a breath-taking ride on a senic railway and some diverting situations in which a balloon is a prominent feature, aro only a few of the sequences which go to make a background for Cantor’s inimitable foolery. An unusually interesting programme of short subjects is also screened. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.

"ANYTHING GOES.” Awarded four A'e by Motion Picture Magazine, “Anything Goes,” the Paramount production which will have its New Zealand premiere at the Regent Theatre to-morrow, is an adaptation of the Broadway stage play of the same name. It is claimed to be bright, bubbling entertainment, as gay a hit on the screen as it was behind the footlights. Ethel Merman, whose bountiful talents enhance the picture as they did the play, acts welj. Charlie Rugglcs, as Public Enemy No. IS, is a nice, tough little guy who is peeved at the G. Men because they rate him No. 13 when he should really be No. 10 or at worst No. 11. An actor-proof role on the stage, in Charlie Ruggles’s expert hands it becomes a fine comedy role, a lampoon on modern gangsters. In addition to the famous Cole Porter songs which have been famous since “Anything Goes ” opened on Broadway—" Anything Goes,” “ You’re the Top,” “ I Get a Kick Out of You”—new, sprightly, and lilting melodies have been written specially ior, the picture. “Anything Goes’.’ has music to delight the ear, girls to brighten the eye, laughs to tickle the risibilities, dance routines to-dazzle the senses, and it introduces what is described as_ the latest development in sound recording during the past two years. The associate programme includes a Grantland Rice Sportligbt, “Finer Points.” “No Other One,” screen song, and the Regent News Service. Plans are at the D.I.C. and the theatre..

ST. JAMES THEATRE A vivid'tale of the circus is told in " O’Shaughnessy’s Boy," featuring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper, which heads the current programme at the St. James Theatre. As Windy, the animal trainer in the circus, Beery is a man whose life is bound up with the circus. His wife, Cora, played by Leona Maricle, is a trapeze artist, who hates her profession, and who, urged on by her sister Martha (Sarah Haden), runs away, taking their small son “Stubby” with her. Windy is devoted to the boy and, desolated at the fact that he cannot discover his whereabouts, breaks down in health and, more important, loses his nerve. He is savagely attacked by a tiger when endeavouring to perform a particularly hazardous trick, and for a period is confined to a hospital with terrible wounds. On his discharge he begins a search lor the boy which, although it lasts for years, is finally successful. Cora lias died in the meantime, however, and the boy has become estranged to his father, a condition that has been brought about by the vigorous tongue of Martha, who has nothing less than hatred for Windy. How father and son are eventually united in sympathies makes a pleasant ending to the picture. There is an entertaining supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre, Jacobs’s, M’CTacken and Walls’s, and the D.I.C.

“THE BRIDE COMES HOME.” What is described as one of the smartest comedy romances of the year will be shown at the St. James Theatre to-mor-row. with the opening of Paramount’s “ The Bride Comes Home.” in which Claudette Colbert and Fred Mac Murray are starred. In a day when it is difficult to get away from the patterned story, this tale of a modern boy and girl who cannot spend five minutes together without lighting, yet who find they cannot stay away from each other, is reported as being refreshing ns a spring breeze in the hill country. Miss Colbert is the daughter ot a Chicago financier who had gone distressingly “broke.” Though reared in great luxury, the girl nevertheless has plenty of pluck, and decides to go to work. Robert Young, a childhood sweetheart, has just inherited 3.1100,000 dollars, but Claudette feels she would prefer getting ft job to marrying him. She does go to work, as assistant editor of the magazine Young publishes, where she is made assistant to the editor, Fred MacMurray. Mac Murray is a hard-boiled, rough-spoken fellow who resents Miss Colbert’s presence. They fight from the moment they meet. Both the hoy and the girl seem to have been horn with a liberal quantity of the Old Ned in them, and they find it exceedingly difficult to speak a civil word to each other until they happen to fall in love.

OCTAGON THEATRE

The excellent performances given by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, the charming romance embodied in the story, and the no Jess delightful music by Herbert which is sung with such striking effect by the principals, make “Naughty Marietta,” the main attraction on the current programme nt the Octagon Theatre, a particularly enjoyable film. Miss MacDonald is seen as a ruriaway heiress of a noble French house, who flies to the French colony of Louisiana' to escape an unwelcome marriage arranged for her by her father. Arriving at the colony under an assumed name, she falls in with the handsome young captain of a band of mercenary soldiers, and us he has no idea of her real identity their romance proceeds along amusing and unusual lines. Much of the excellent comedy of the production is provided by Frank Morgan, as the harassed Governor of the colony, and Elsa Lanchester, ns his suspicious wife. The supporting picture is entitled “Looking Forward,” the principal players being Lionel Barrymore. Lewis Stone, and Benitn Hume. The box plans arc at the theatre and at Beggs. DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME.

Swift-moving action, drama, comedy and song are .the ingredients that make up life in a forest camp, which is the theme of Paramount’s “ It’s a Great Life,” which will open on Friday at \the Octagon Theatre. More than 500,000 young men populate the forest camps in America today, and the scope of their activities, at play as well as at work, forms the background of the picture, which has Joe Morrison, Paul Kelly, Rosalind Keith, and William Frawley in the principal roles. That perennial favourite of stage anil screen, Charles (Chic) Sale, has an important comedy part, and three of Hollywood's most popular baby stars —Baby Le Roy, David Holt, and Gloria Ann White —contribute their share of the film’s entertainment qualities. “Millions in the Air ”is the second picture. The theme of the story deals with an amateur radio hour —the type of entertainment which is proving so popular with American radio fans of to-day. In addition, a host of comedians, songsters, and general performers are revealed in a plot that springs up when the amateurs make their bid for fame. The picture is reported to be a gaily rollicking comedy all the way through. Its characters arc all light-hearted youngsters with it yearning for fame and fortune, and with talents which they are cock-sure will please the world, they give everything they’ve got for a chance to prove their confidence in themselves.

GRAND THEATRE

A double-feature programme, which should prove highly popular with theatre patrons, commenced a season yesterday at the Grand Theatre. The two fiTins are “Your Uncle Dudley,” featuring that clever comedian, Edward Everett Horton, and “ Whispering Smith Speaks,” a thrilling tale of railroading adventure from a novel by the well-known Western writer, Frank H. Spearman, in which the star is George O’Brien. Both films are well filled with good things, and throughout the long’ programme there is not one uninteresting moment. “Your Uncle Dudley ” is a clever comedy on the theme of “ a worm who turned. Uncle Dudley did all the good works, and the other men got all the benefit; his business ran to seed, and his romance went on the rocks because he was so busy helping other people out of the tight spots. Then something, happened, and the worm turned to become a roaring terror. That gives an inkling of the possibilities of a role which is one of thq most sympathetic that Horton has had in recent years. The story is loaded with chuckles and surprising comic twists. Horton, as Uncle Dudley, is a thoroughly human and lovable personality, a good-natured soul, who has a weakness for silver loving cups, lie ie so busy helping others that he fails to realise how his sweetheart (Lois Wilson) is drifting from him or how his parasitic sister (Marjorie Gateeon) is taking advantage of him until the time comes when he needs money. He turns to his “ friends,” and their response is in the nature of a liberal education to him. Under the shock of the enlightenment, he decides it is high time that he mended his ways, and he sets about doing so in. ho drastic a fashion that he causes a sensation among his acquaintances and, incidentally, creates a riot or amii.-em lit for tlie audience. A number of the minor roles in the cast are delightfully portrayed, among the supporting players being Alan Dinehart and John M’Guire. The second film, “Whispering Smith Speaks,” tells how Gordon Harrington, jun. (George O’Brien), the son of a railroad magnate, tires of the useless existence in his father’s office and strikes out to do ‘something for himself. The lure of the railroad life is too gi'eat, however, and he finds employment as a trackwalker on a small branch line which is managed by a charming young lady. When a purchaser appears and offers a largo price to the girl for an apparently valueless property, and also wants to buy the branch lino, the young man becomes suspicious, and discovers, almqst when it i« too late, that the property is valuable, lie immediately buys the line himself, and then follows a thrilling race to Denver to prevent the girl from selling the land. He arrives in time and discovers that the would-be purchaser is' his own father. The situation is a piquant one, and it ie pleasantly handled, leading to a thoroughly satisfactory ending. The feminine role is charmingly played by Irene Ware. Other players in the east are Kenneth Thomson, Vic Potel, and Spencer Charters. The film is filled with humorous situations which O’Brien handles in easy style. The photography throughout the film is an added attraction, some of the shots of mountain scenery being particularly striking. The story was adapted from Spearman’s novel by Gilbert Wright, a son of the famous Harold Bell Wright, and was directed by David Howard. During the interval a film showing the manufacture of Hercules Simplex cycles is shown. The box plana are at the theatre and at Begg’s.

EMPIRE THEATRE " I Live My Life ” is proving very popular at the Empire Theatre at the present time. The talented and personable Joan Crawford has the leading role, and gives a piquant representation of the spoiled daughter of a wealthy family who is perfectly willing to marry the man she loves but unwilling to sacrifice anything which she thinks is a part of the individuality of which she is inordinately proud. Cruising in the Mediterranean, she meets a young archajologist, played by Brian Aherno, and, having fallen in love with him, she sets out to try and persuade him to enter the sort of limited liability marriage which she thinks will enable her to retain her individuality. How the many problems arising out of such an arrangement are eventually overcome makes an excellent story. The supporting programme is a good one, and the box plans will be found at the theatre and at the D.I.C.

“ ESCAPADE.” Stars, romance, music, gaiety, laughter, and drama all mingle in a now blend of screen entertainment in “ Escapade,” a new romance of Vienna that will show to-morrow at the Empire Theatre. It captures Continental flavour and music, and puts them on the screen in a story with dramatic twists that keep the audience in a state of surprises.' Through the deft handling of the story, entertainment value from laughs to tears, from, drama to music, is packed into a single evening’s divertissement. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, the new Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer picture stars William Powell and introduces Luisc Rainer, Vienna stage star, to screen audiences. Reginald Owen plays the absent-minded musician lover. Henry Travers is the comical gardener, and Laura Hope Crows, stage star of “The Silver Cord,” Mathilde Comont, and Lorraine Bridges, new singing discovery, are others in the cast. The story deals with a debonair and lionised artist, played by Powell, who falls in love, through complications over a painting of another man’s wife, with the demure companion of a countess. With a jealous doctor, a former sweetheart, and a flirtatious wife on his hands, lie tries to balance the whole structure while progressing on a rocky road of true love.

STRAND THEATRE “One Way Ticket” ia the principal attraction on the double-feature programme at the Strand Theatre at the present time. It is a romantic drama from the story of the same name by Ethel Turner, and tells of a young convict who

fulls in love with the daughter of one of the prison guards. The 'dramatic value of such a situation is obvious, and the producer has used it to the full in making a highly interesting and absorbing film. The second feature is “ The Thrill Hunter,” in which the popular Western favourite Buck Jones provides the audience with several thousand feet of exciting and exhilarating comedy. The boxplans for the programme will be found at the theatre and at the D.I.C. DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME. Of all directors in Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMillc stands out as the one who strives most consistently for realism in his pictures. His new Paramount picture, “ This Day and Age,” DcMille’s first great spectacle of modern times, will be shown at the Strand Theatre to-morrow. An added touch of realism was attained in “This Dav and Age” when he secured Horace Hahn, student-body president of Los Angeles high schools, to play the role of a student-body president. DeMillc discovered Hahn during the Boys’ Week celebration, when (he youth took over the offices of chief of police of Los Angeles for one day. “This Day and Age,” modern youth invoking the age-old law, “ an eye for an eye,” features Charles Bickford. Richard Cromwell. Judith Allen. Eddie Nugent, Harry Green. George Barbier. Mickey Daniels and others. The second picture to lie shown is “Green Eves.” When the guests unmasked at the midnight masquerade party. Stephen Roster, their host, was nowhere to he found. Jean, his granddaughter, was missing, ton, speeding madly from Ids house in an automobile with Cliff Miller, her sweetheart, Presently Mrs Pritchard, wife of Roster's secretary, opened the door of Roster’s closet. Two terrifying green eyes stared out at her. Horrible green eves in the mask of the mandarin’s costume that Roster had worn at the party. Ptenhen Keefer was dead, stabbed through the hack with a two-edged knife. A eonfusing problem in entne defection, with Inspector Crofton, of the police department. matching wits with Bill Trace, a brilliant young writer of detective stories, provides the story of the new Chesterfield mystery drama. “Green Eyes” was adapted for the sereen bv Andrew Frederick Moses from the bestseller novel. “Tiie Murder of Steuben Roster,” bv IT. Ashhrook. Shirley Grey, Charlea Starrett, Claude Gillingwater,

John Wray, William Bakewell, Dorothy Revier, Ben Hendricks, jun., and Robert Frazer have featured roles in “Green Eyes,” which was directed by Richard Thorpe. MAYFAIR THEATRE Heading the new bill at the Mayfair Theatre is “My Heart is Calling,’ in which Jan Kiepura’s fine voice is heard in several excellent numbers. Whether rendering operatic aria or lilting populai melodies, Kiepura, the famous Polish tenor, is wholly delightful. Eo male screen singer lias a larger or more devoted following than this great artist, whose magnetic personality so exactly harmonises with the clever comedy ot Sonnie Halo that their scenes together aro irresistible. And there , 18 u -’T. another outstanding personality in Mj Heart Is Calling.” Marta Eggerth, young, glamorous, and very beautiful, brings sweetness and sympathy to her important role, and gives more than a inn', of her powers as a dancer and vocalist. The engrossing story is told against impressive backgrounds, and the big sets include representations of a luxury Inj er at sea and scenes in Monte Carlo. ihemain feature is supported by the dramatic and enthralling screen story, “The Pay Off.” The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.