AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23885, 12 August 1939, Page 9

AMUSEMENTS

THE NEW PROGRAMMES REGENT THEATRE RICH DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT Although the story of ‘lnvitation to Happiness,” which was presented at the Regent Theatre yesterday for its New Zealand premiere, concerns the conflict between a heavy-weight boxer’s ambition and his domestic life, the film is not just another boxing picture with a dramatic leaven. Neither is it just another love story. It is a film of deep dramatic content, and a searching examination of a real human problem which has to be faced by many people other than boxers. Its appeal is a wide one. The quality of the production, which is brilliantly played by Irene Dunne and Fred Mac Murray, and is technically sound, was readily recognised by yesterday’s audiences Irene Dunne has been the star of many fine and unusual screen studies of everyday people, and her appearances are always sure of a welcome because theatre-goers can be assured that there will be sincerity and charm and sound acting. This film is no exception. Rather does it add to her laurels, for there is still greater maturity of her style Fred Mac Murray has been admitted to stardom forouite a long time, but it is only in his last two or three films that he has been given chances to demonstrate that he is more than a handsome and virile male type which ;an be used as the romantic foil in a light-hearted .story with a generous musical background. He has real talent and he holds ttis own in the dramatic scenes of the story. With these two thoroughly satisfying leads, there is also a firstrate supporting cast. Charlie Ruggles, whose merit as a character actor is also being slowly recognised, has a big role which he handles with confidence and makes a genuine impression as the boxer’s manager. A fine and welltried character player is William Collier, who appears as Miss Dunne’s father, and he bodies the part forth into quiet, genial reality, Worthy of mention, too, is the part of the young son, played by Billy Cook. He has more than a little responsibility in the drama, but he is effectively natural. When a small-time boxing promoter calls on a former friend who has become wealthy and asks him to buy a half interest in the contract of his latest protege, whom he expects to do great things, the request turns out to be an “Invitation to Happiness” for the magnate’s daughter. The request is granted, and the heiress and the young boxer discover a deep and mutual interest in each other despite certain fundamental differences which make their first meeting a stormy one. There is a rapid courtship and a hasty marriage. Then, before the fervour of the honeymoon has cooled, there is trouble. The boxer has his career ahead. He has aimed at the championship of the world and has made that his mainspring in life. His one dread is of defeat before he wins that title, and it is this which drives him on for 10 long years and estranges him from both wife and son. The inevitable break comes, though neither of them wants it, and then the old, bitter question of the custody of the child rises up. The father strives to make up what he has lost by winning the affection of his son. who clings to his mother. The climax comes in the great championship fight—a brilliantly staged performance—and in that struggle and the events which immediately follow it he discovers the solution of the problem which all his life he had refused to face.

The supporting programme includes an unusual musical film, which shows what goes on before and behind the cameras in the studios when such a feature is being prepared. “Silver Millions,” a gazette dealing with the salmon canning industry in Alaska, news reels and topical features make up a varied and interesting first half. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C, ST. JAMES THEATRE EXCELLENT DOUBLE PROGRAMME Two features of far more than average worth are now being presented at the St. James Theatre. The main film is “Dramatic School." a well-acted tale with an unusual setting. The second feature is a British production with a little-known star who. however, makes a highly favourable impression in a gentle satire of class distinction. "While Parents Sleep” is the title, and it is adapted from the play which was highly successful in the West End a few years ago. The ambitions, struggles, disappointments, and triumph of the lives of dramatic school students are vividly told in “Dramatic School.” which has an outstanding cast, headed by Luise Rainer, twice Academy prize winner, and Paulette Goddard Charlie Chaplin’s wife and protegee who made a telling appearance recently in “The Young in Heart.” Miss Rainer gives a characteristic performance as what might be called “the ugly duckling” of the class, and Miss Goddard may be said to rise to stardom by her brilliant playing. Apart from these principals, the cast includes some wellknown and capable players. There are such names as Alan Marshall. Henry Stevenson. Gale Sondergaard. another Academy award winner, who gives an outstanding portrayal as the jealous Madame Chariot Genevieve Tobin, and Anthony Allan. Miss Rainer is entrusted with the part of a poor worker in a Paris gasmeter plant who, ambitious to become a gresjt actress, toils through the night to earn her fees. Miss Goddard has the role •of an envious rich girl who does everything to prevent recognition of the other girl’s talent. The story is told in most artistic fashion and leads to the interpretation of a fine climax by Miss Rainer Incidentally her performance in a scene from “Joan of Arc ” is the most striking sequence in the film and gives a real indication of her quality.

“ While Parents Sleep ” stars a charming newcomer. Jean Gillies As the pretty shopgirl who makes the acquaintance of a young man of family at a fair and accepts his invitation to go home with him. she is piquant and almost delightfully insolent There is a certain French quality about her as, indeed, there is about the whole mood of the film. The film is one of those comedies in which flirtations lead to muddles, and muddles lead to explanations, which lead to more muddles and so on to the uproarious climax. Much of the trouble in the film is caused by a titled lady with roving affections, a part which is played with restraint by Enid StampTaylor The male leads are Mackenzie Ward and Romilly Lunge. Athole Stuart and Dave Burnaby are prominently cast. The box plans are at the theatre, the D.I.C. and Jacobs’s. STRAND THEATRE DRAMA AND ROMANCE The paralysing effect of racketeering on industry is fully revealed in the new Warner Brothers’ production, “ Racket Busters,” which is now screening at the Strand Theatre. Like this studio’s previous films on this theme, the story resolves into a grim struggle between the law and criminals who prey on the life-blood of the business community. It is centred in New York and shows a gang headed by Humphrey Bogart, always an admirable gangster, beginning to exact its toll from the city through its food supply, by first compelling the truck drivers to fall in with their wishes When the drivers combine to form a determined resistance, stringent methods are brought to bear on them.

and their resistance gradually gives way to intimidation. Just as the outlook is beginning to look black for all those engaged in the market trade, a leader, in the person of George Brent, comes forward, and with the help of the city’s special prosecutor (Walter Abel), the gang is smashed. Others in the cast are Gloria Dickson and Allan Jenkins. The associate attraction is “Girls’ School,” a story of youthful romance, with Anne Shirley, Ralph Bellamy, and Nan Grey in the leading roles I* is a refreshing tale, dealing with the naive comedy of girlish reactions to life and love, careers and romance. The Strand Theatre’s current programme caters for all tastes, and should prove popular during the week’s season. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. EMPIRE THEATRE EXCITING GANGSTER STORY Akim Tamiroff, who has been building up an impressive reputation for himself in roles of the more villainous type, particularly in such films as “ Spawn of the North ” and “ Escape from Yesterday.” achieves another fine performance in “ King of Chinatown,” which commenced a season at the Empire Theatre yesterday. In his latest part he has a more restrained role than his previous characterisations, but nevertheless succeeds in giving it considerable depth of character and conviction. He plays the part of Frank Baturin, the gangster chief of Chinatown, who systematically fleeces the district of much of its wealth while posing as one of its foremost benefactors. His activities are manifold and his power Immense, but he cannot successfully guard himself against disaffection and jealousy in the ranks of his own hirelings. After one of his main coups has failed to come off. he gives orders for the elimination of a man whom he suspects is at the back of his failure, but instead falls the victim of a bullet from that same man’s gun. Curiously enough the shooting occurs outside the shop of Dr Chang Ling, a patriarchal Chinese who has no love for Baturin, and the aged man’c daughter Dr Mary Ling, played by Anna May Wong suspecting that her father was responsible for the crime takes it upon herself to nurse Baturin back to health. During the master gangster’s enforced absence, his lieutenants take matters into their own hands and organise the district’s lawless activities on a ruthless scale never contemplated by Baturin, thereby further antagonising the aged but virile Chang Ling tovrards Baturin. The latter is unaware of the new turn events have taken ana darly becomes more infatuated, with his pretty doctor whom he insists shall care for him at home when he is allowed to leave the hospital. Eventually Mary Ling learns that her father did not fire the shot that so nearly proved fatal for her patient, and at the same time discovers that the man who actually committed the crime is determined to finish the iob properly. Her father however steps in and in a dramatic climax the story reaches a logical conclusion in which summary iustice is out. The supporting programme is an unusually interesting one and includes an hilarious Charlie Chase comedy a colour travelogue of the Malay States, several interesting news reels, a Grantland Rice sportlight which draws striking contrasts between the track and field techniques of 40 years ago and the present day and another episode in the popular “Lone Ranger series. The box plans arc at the theatre and the D.I.C,

GRAND THEATRE ENTERTAINING DOUBLE BILL “ Beauty for the Asking,” which heads the current double-feature programme at the Grand Theatre, is a comedy-romance with a slight dash of drama in its make-up. The plot concerns a pretty beauty culture expert, who is jilted by her lover, the latter marrying a wealthy copper heiress. The girl sets out to prove her worth, and prepares to market a toilet preparation of her own. By a strange turn of chance, the woman who sponsors her is none other than the wife of her former lover, and another variation of the eternal triangle develops. Lucille Ball is the jilted girl, and Frieda Inescourt is the heiress. Patnc Knowles is the handsome, but faithless, young man, and Donald Woods is the trusty suitor in the background. The second picture is “Land of Fighting Men,” a fast-moving Western story, featuring Jack Randall, who is given musical support by the Colorado Hillbillies Range war in its most ruthless form is the theme of the production. The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg’s. STATE THEATRE DRAMA OF ARMY LIFE India, land of mystery, adventure, romance, and strange religious beliefs, is the scene of the thrilling picture “Gunga Din,” a melodrama of British army life, adapted from Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same title, which opened the second week of its Dunedin season yesterday at the State Theatre. Its hero is Gunga Din, a water-carrier of low caste, who rises to become a valiant fighting man, and finally proves his worth by heroic selfsacrifice. Sam Jaffe scores a pronounced triumph in this role. With his three sergeant comrades, played by Victor McLaglen, Cary Grant, and Douglas Fairbanks, jun., Gunga Din passes through a series of wild adventures that furnish a never-ceasing succession of thrills. There are interludes of comedy, the humour of virile men who can laugh in the presence of impending doom, and pathos that will linger long in the memory. The scenic beauty of the film is outstanding, ranging from views of foaming rivers, dense forests, and wide expanses of misty plains to frowning mountains and the gloomy grandeur of the historically famous Khyber Pass. This film marks the first time that India’s sinister murder cult, Thuggee, has been depicted on the screen. Thugs, who have existed in India for centuries, practise the religion of murder, and at one period during last century were responsible for about 10,000 murders annually. In “ Gunga Din ” they organise a revolutionary outbreak on the North-West frontier, thereby bringing the British troops into action. Eduardo Ciannelli is convincingly sinister as the chief of the Thugs. Other roles are taken by Joan Fontaine. Montagu Love, and Abner Biberman. The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg’s. MAYFAIR THEATRE "YOUNG DR KILDARE” Entertaining fare will be offered in the double bill opening at the Mayfair Theatre to-day. for besides the attractive “ Young Dr Kildare ” there will be shown a comedv-drama of the secret service. “ Strange Boarders. ’ Giving promise of a popularity which should exceed that which he established with his early films some years

afro. Lew Ayres in his more recent performances in “Holiday Kicn Man Poor Girl.” and now in Young Dr Kildare." has staged a come-back unheralded by a studio publicity campaign. In his newest film, a story of his life as an interne in a New York hospital. Ayres has in support Lionel Barrymore, a veteran character actor who needs no introduction: Lynne Carver. who takes the main feminine role; Joe Ann Savers Nat Pendleton and Samuel S. Hinds. An idealist _ who gives up the chance of a secure livelihood as a private practitioner in his home town. Dr Kildare ioins the staff of a hospital in New York, where the blame for the death of a patient placed or. his shoulders leads to an exciting climax, in which his chief, an eccentric diagnostician, comes to his aid. “ Strange Boarders.” a thrilling mysterv stars Tom Walls and Renee SaintCyr. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.