AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23527, 16 June 1938, Page 14

AMUSEMENTS

GRAND THEATRE Loretta Young and Don Ameche have some entertaining fare, swinging swiftly from melodrama to romantic comedy, to present in “ Love Under Fire,” which commenced a season at the Grand Theatre yesterday. The story gives them plenty of chances to indulge in that madcap gaiety which they are so adept in portraying, and at the same time their romantic adventures are interspersed with dramatic episodes which are enlightened by faint suggestions of burlesque. Punctuated with the rattle of machine-guns as civil war breaks out in Spain, the story has plenty of action in its makeup. and, in addition to the excitement of the revolution, the plot brings in a frantic search for missing jewels as an extra source of interest. The narrative deals with a young girl who flees to Spain under the impression that she has committed a crime, and there makes the acquaintance of a young detective who, an hour after meeting her, receives orders to find and arrest her. Interwoven in the main theme is the search for the famous Pelaga- diamonds wihch the revolutionaries are frantically endeavouring to locate while another Englishwoman is trying to smuggle them out of Spain. It is all very entertaining and exciting, and there are several highly dramatic episodes Novelty is added to the production by the inclusion of Borrah Minevitch and his harmonica players, who enliven various scenes with amusing antics and a series of strange noises. The cadaverous and satirical John Carradine, in the aguise of a sardonic Spanish colonel,'contributes some neat touches of colour to the dramatic episodes, and E. E. Clive, as a dyspeptic master mariner, is one of the joys of this breezy, romantic, comedydrama, which punctuates its humorous episodes with the stuttering of ma-chine-guns, the crash of bombs, and the thunder of falling masonry. Sig Rumann, as a fiery general whose great desire is to liquidate immediately anyone who has been even remotely concerned with the disappearance of the Pelaga diamonds, and Harold Huber, as a revolutionary spy whose attempts to recover the diamonds meet with such little success that his superior officer positively itches to destroy him personally, supply the amusingly fierce dramatic gestures of the film. There is an entertaining programme, which includes a musical comedy and a hilarious cartoon. An added attraction is the personal appearance on the stage of Miss Olga Paul, the talented young piano-accordionist, who sings and plays a number of popular selections. Her numbers last night included “Will You Remember?” “It Looks Like Rain in Cherry Blossom Lane,” and “ When My Dream Boat Comes Home.” The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg’s. STATE THEATRE Fredric March and Carole Lombard have the leading roles in “ Nothing Sacred,” which will be screened finally at the State Theatre to-day, and the situations in which they find themselves in the course of this delightful satire on American journalism are so amusing as to make much of the comedy with which the film abounds of a riotous nature. Also in the cast are Charles Winninger and Walter Connolly. There is a varied supporting programme, and the box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s. "SAILING ALONG” Jessie Matthews, the star of “ Sailing Along,” commencing to-morrow at the Slate Theatre, represents a stage type that belongs to England rather than to modern America. Her face has too much character to fit in with the American mode for lovely but meaningless masks. There is about her much of that same sauciness which has made Gracie Fields so popular on (he stage. Added to this, of course, she is not only graceful and charming, but as good a dancer as any, and a pleasing singer into the bargain. Never, it is said, has she had better opportunities to display her famous singing and dancing talents and her well-known versatility than in " Sailing Along.” She is supported by Jack Whiling, Roland Young, and Barry MacK-ny Cast as the adopted daughter of a bargee who becomes a famous dancer, Jessie Matthews has as partner in the dancing sequences Jack Whiting, a newcomer to the British screen. He is well known in America, where he has had considerable stage and screen experience, and while In England, playing the lead in "Anything Goes ” during the illness of Leslie Henson, was chosen by Jessie Matthews as her first dancing partner on the screen. REGENT THEATRE A great metropolitan hospital forms the background of the tensely dramatic story told in “ Between Two Women,” which is now being screened at the Regent Theatre. Heading a strong cast of players are Franchot Tone, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Virginia Bruce, all of whom add to the reputations wh'ch they have won in many fine productions. Tone gives an outstanding performance in the role of an ambitious young interne. Miss Bruce is an heiress who goes to the hospital as a patient and falls in love with him. Miss O'Sullivan appears as a nurse, unhappily married, who secretly loves the interne herself. There is a strong supporting programme, and the box plans arc at the theatre and the D.I.C.

"DEAD END” “Dead End," Samuel Goldwyn’s film production based on the' Broadway stage hit by Sidney Kingsley, ’ comes to the Regent Theatre to-morrow, with Sylvia Sidney and Joel McCrea in the starring roles. This drama of a day in the lives of a handful of humans who inhabit a “ dead end ” city street, where fashionable apartments rub elbows with the squalid tenements of the waterfront, which set records in its Broadway run, is said to reach even greater heights in the film version. Sylvia Sidney is seen as Drina, the slum girl who, is battling desperately to raise herself and her small brother Tommy to a better life; McCrea plays Dave, the poor architect she loves, who, in turn, loves Kay (Wendy Barrie', who has found a wav out of the slums into luxury and will not return even for love; Humphrey Bogart is seen as Baby-face Martin, the gangster with a price on his head. Allen Jenkins is seen as Hunk, “ Baby Face’s ” henchman; and the Dead End kids from' the original New York stage cast, Billy Halop, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Leo Gofcey and Bernard Punsley, relive their famous characterisations. ST. JAMES THEATRE " Bom to the West ” and “ Love on Toast ” are the features at present being shown at the St. James Theatre. This adaptation of a Zane Grey story is a typical Western film witn action and suspense. John Wayne, Marsha Hunt, and John Mack Browne are in the leading roles. “Love on Toast” introduces a number of little-known players in a delightful romantic comedy. The box plans are at the theatre, the D.1.C.. and Jacobs’s. “ STORM IN A TEACUP ” James Bridie’s hilarious comedy, “Storm in a Teacup,” an Alexander Korda production, will commence a season at the St. James Theatre tomorrow. A famous stage play that has been popular for several; years throughout Europe and Great Britain, “Storm in a Teacup” was originally written by Bruno Frank, an animal lover, in Germany. The author intended the play to be an exposure of the fact that the excessive dog tax in his country compelled many poor people to send their pets to the lethal chamber. It is also, incidentally, a humorous exposure of civic pomposity and political humbug. James Bridie, in his play, has drawn a rich range of types and a vivid picture of life in a small Scottish community. Frank Burdon, a young English reporter, gets a job on a small Scottish newspaper, and is left in charge during the proprietor’s absence. Ordered to interview the provost, a self-important individual with aspirations to found a Scottish national party, he publishes instead a slashing attack on that individual for refusing to hear the appeal of an Irish widow whose dog, because she had been unable to pay the licence fee, has been condemned to death. The reporter is in love with the provost’s daughter, and refuses to withdraw his criticism, and she eventually comes over to his side. A special stage act will be presented as an extra attraction. Mr Jack Carter, the yodelling cowboy, will make his Dunedin debut, and should delight local audiences, as he has done in Australia and northern towns in New Zealand. STRAND THEATRE There is plenty of variety on the current programme at the Strand Theatre, a murder mystery and a thrilling drama of the boxing ring providing a wealth of action. The principal film, " Murder in Greenwich Village,” has Richard Arlen and Fay Wray in the leading roles. The second attraction “ Some Blondes are Dangerous,” features Noah Beery, jun., Nan Grey, William Gargan, and Dorothea Kent. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. “ SHE HAD TO EAT ” Malcolm St. Clair directed " She Had to Eat,” the film to be shown to-mor-row at‘the Strand Theatre, a lighthearted story of a country innocent (Jack Haley), whose love for his pet rabbit, “Cactus.” not only lands him in one scrape after another, but finally wins him the girl of his romantic dreams. The screen play was written by Samuel G. Engel, who also served as associate producer. In attempting to save his pet rabbit from the mightyhunter aspirations of Eugene Pallette, eccentric millionaire, and his valet, Arthur Treacher, Jack Haley boards the private train of the retired financier, only to be thrown off far from home, friends and money. Aimless and discouraged, he meets Rochelle Hudson, who is working a fine racket of getting food, lodging and various luxuries for nothing. “The Man Who Changed His Mind,” the second film, is a fantastic melodrama starring Boris KarlofT as a brilliant scientist. The unusual (heme convinces, thanks to adroit direction, while the situations include a sequence where a fanatical old professor seeks rejuvenation by switching minds with the young hero. The presentation is polished, with a bizarre laboratory as a highlight. OCTAGON THEATRE “ In Old Chicago ” is now approaching the end of its extended season at the Octagon Theatre. Planned on an epic scale, the film tells the story of a typical family in the days of the development of the mid-west States. Through it all there runs the story of the rise of a great city and of the destruction of the sprawling, rather disreputable metropolis by fire and its resurrection Phoenix-like from the ashes. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s.

EMPIRE THEATRE “Topper,” the screen version of one 4 ; of Thorne Smith’s most famous books, is still attracting large crowds to. the • Empire Theatre, where it is now in its second week. Heading the cast are >-■ such names as Constance Bennett,.Gary’" Grant, and Roland Young, while in • supporting roles are ' Billie Burke, ■ ' Eugene Pallette, and Solly Ward. In the development of the plot a wealthy and profligate pair of youngsters are . killed in a motor car smash in-,the T United States. They then become - “ lower plane spirits,” and have to perform some good deed before they can attain to greater heights. Their good deed is , Ccsmo Topper, a henpecked husband, and they decide to teach him to live and enjoy himself. There is a- strong supporting programme, and the box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. “THE BIG CITY” , “ Big City,” the film to be shown to-morrow at the Empire Theatre, is - a dramatic story, of a taxi cab war in" New York, with Spencer Tracy, as, a t . taxi driver and Luise Rainer as his Rumanian Wife; Thrills of pitched battles, a frame-up,. a glimpse into ' the “inside” of taxi cab racketeering, are backgrounds for‘the romance, One of the more elaborate scenes is a replicant the annual sportsmen*:? dinner at Jack Dempsey’s restaurant in New, York. A production unit went to New York to film this sequence in the actual restaurant, and Derripsey appears in the episode. Frank Borzage directed ■ the picture, based on an original stsry by its producer, Norman Krasna. Players include Charley Grapewin, Janet, Beecher, Eddie Quillan, and Victor >• VarcDni. One of the most impressive church ceremonies in the world v/as reproduced with every detail authentic for one of. the dramatic hignlights. This was the high mass of the Rumanian Church, sung with some of the oldest ecclesiastical music in existence. The scene was filmed for the episode in which Luis? Rainer, falsely accused of a crime and sought by the police, takes refuge in a Rumanian church in New York. MAYFAIR THEATRE.; ■ : - “ The Good Old Soak.” starring the ever-popular though disreputable Wallace Beery, and “ When Love is Young,” with a cast which includes Kent Taylor, Virginia Bruce, and ‘ Walter Brennan, are the two features at the Mayfair Theatre. The “ Good , Old Soak” is a human story of the town drunkard whose ragged garments hide a heart of gold. It is the sort of role which Beery seems created to portray. Eric Linden. Ted Healy. Una Merkel, and other well-known players • are included in the cast. “ When Love is Young ” is a variation of the Cinder- ~ ella motive—the snubbed young .girl who is rewarded by fame, fortune, and a handsome husband. The box plans are at the D.I.C. and Gadd’s,