AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23940, 16 October 1939, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

THE CURRENT PROGRAMMES GRAND THEATRE A feature of “Swift Vengeance,” which heads the programme at the Grand Theatre, is the appearance of Ace, a remarkably intelligent dog worthy of the tradition of his more famous predecessors. The theme of the story is the efforts of a young policeman to introduce trained dogs into his branch of the service in spite of the opposition of a gruff police commissioner. The featured players are Tim Holt, Virginia Weidler and Janet Shaw, and the story tells how at first Ace’s efforts in assisting the law fail to impress the proper authorities, but how later, after his young master has been wrongfully suspended from the service, he proves Holt innocent and by his exploits makes way for the introduction of such trained dogs as himself into the service of the police. Lupe Velez is the featured player in “ Girl from Mexico,” the second attraction. In some respects the film is a depiction of her own career for it tells how a girl from a Mexican village attracts the notice of an American talent scout by reason of her voice and how she makes good in New York, Box plans are at the theatre and at Begg’s. “BLIND ALLEY ’ A new variation of the “ brain versus brawn” plot will be seen in ‘Blind Alley” at the Grand Theatre on Wednesday. It is the story of a psychiatrist matching his wits against the gun of a murderer. Ralph Bellamy and Chester Morris present flawless performances in the leading roles. STRAND THEATRE Set in an eerie old castle, in the vaults of which is buried a fabulous treasure, the story of the latest “ Bulldog Drummond ” thriller, “ Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police,'' which heads the current programme at the Strand Theatre, is one of the finest of the films in this series yet to be released. With John Howard playing the dashing sleuth whose marriage plans are constantly interrupted by thefts killings and worse, Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police” shows what the hero does about it when a fabulous treasure is discovered buried under his own castle. The second attraction is “My Old Kentucky Home ” an attractive romance, which, at the same time, has an element of drama also in it that makes it more than interesting. The cast is headed by Evelyn Venable and Grant Richard. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.

STATE THEATRE Admirers of the Laurel and Hardy comedy team have learned with regret of its dissolution, but with Harry Langdon as Hardy’s partner in “Elephants Never Forget,” now at the State Theatre, they should find some consolation. Langdon is quite different from the helpless individual that Stan Laurel played, and Hardy, too. plays a role that calls for a little more straight acting than usual. The setting for the film is a Mississippi town in the eighties. Hardy is the town’s doctor, and Langdon is a quack medicine pedlar whose performing elephant Zenobia is taken ill, requiring the doctor’s services True to the saying “ elephants never forget," she becomes attached to her benefactor, following Hardy everywhere. As is to be expected, this devotion is extremely embarrassing to Hardy, as he can neither attend a ball nor answer a summons to court without Zenobia going too. The elephant’s appearance at night, accompanied by appropriate background music, is terrifying. but Hardy merely regards the animal with ludicrous disgust. Billie Burke, as Hardy’s wife, gives one of her usual delightfully light-headed performances. and the film’s romantic triangle is supplied by James Ellison. Jean Parker and June Lang. Supports include a highly interesting film o_f Whipsnade Zoo. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s. EMPIRE THEATRE One of the brightest and most exciting pictures shown in Dunedin for some time, “This Man is News." is being received enthusiastically by crowded audiences at the Empire Theatre Following on the admirable mixture of comedy and action which made “The Thin Man" such an instant success, it has also a newspaper as a background, and it is here proved again that few settings are so suitable when an action-filled picture is desired. Barry K. Barnes appears as a reporter who is so full of his personal theory that a man who has turned King’s evidence following a jewel robbery will be dealt with by his fellows that he neglects another assignment in order to follow the man when he is released from custody at an early hour, only to be discharged subsequently by his angry editor, who shows utter scot, at the suggestion that the man should ever be killed by his former confederates. The editor changes his opinion in the middle of the night, however when the reporter telephones to say that the crime has actually happened and eagerly prepares to print the report, unaware that his informant is so drunk that he hardly knows what he is saving. An excellent performance is also given by Valerie Hobson, as the wife of the reporter while Alastair Sim. as the Scottish editor gives a very clever characterisation. The supporting programme includes a variety of newsreels, a musical feature.

a Grantland Rice Sportlight. and the first instalment of a serial dealing with the adventures of Buck Rogers. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. REGENT THEATRE In Paramount’s romantic comedy, “ Midnight,” Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder have built a very original screen narrative based on the story specially written for Claudette Colbert by Edwin Mayer and Franz Schultz. Miss Colbert has already been established as one of the screen’s most fascinating comediennes. In this her latest vehicle, she again shows her flair for vivacious portrayal. Few actresses play the gay coguette as smoothly as she. and still sustain a note of winsome femininity. “Midnight,’ now at the Regent Theatre, is one of the brightest comedies screened in Dunedin. For all its eccentric movements, there is nothing erratic about the trend of its events. The trend is hectic and the events hilarious, but the plot is delightfully conceived and replete with surprise The happenings that place the amazed and penniless opportunist and ex-chorus girl, Eve Peabody, in a situation with all the elements of a joyous but fantastic dream, are ingeniously developed and polished with wit. Alert screen-play writing—much more original than Dunedin has enjoyed for some time—has probed all the possibilities of a plot that causes one easily to forget credulity and accept with light-hearted compliance things which would be empty absurdities in a less cleverly written film. Fantasy grows with the story, and, although the divorce incident that closes the narrative at first appears to be stretching the improbable too far. the humour and absurdity of it gradually win over any critical attitude. Don Ameche has the leading role opposite Miss Colbert, and the strong cast includes John Barrymore, Mary Aslor. Francis Lederer and Hedda Hopper. The supporting programme includes an orchestral presentation of Schubert’s “Unfinished Sym-, phony." The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C ST. JAMES THEATRE “The Lambeth Walk’ is now being shown at the St. James Theatre. Nothing more hilariously comic in the greatest sense of the word has ever been offered, and Lupino Lane’s work as Bill Snibson. the Cockney who dramatically discovers that he is a peer of th. realm, entitles him to rank with the great laughter-makers of modernstage history, The part of Bill’s girl. Sallv Smith, is admirably played by Sallv Grey, and Dunedin theatregoers who remember Seymour Hicks’s appearance in the flesh on the stage of His Majesty’s Theatre will be interested to see him in this picture as one of Bill’s new-found noble relations. In fact, he is the one

member of the family who does not agree with the rest that Bill’s ennoblement must be followed by his separation from Sally. The climax of the story approaches when Sally, knowing the attitude of Bill's aristocratic relations to her, brings all his old Cockney friends to a ball arranged in the new earl’s honour. But the embarrassing scene that might have .resulted passes when Sally and Bill sing “The Lambeth Walk.” The Cockney party "then introduce the famous dance and. within a few minutes, lords and commoners have caught the infection, and the whole assemblage joins in. Another delightful number is “ Me and My Girl,” a duet sung by Bill and Sally, The box plans are at the theatre, the D.1.C., and Jacobs’s. MAYFAIR THEATRE Margaret Sullavan gives a restrained, deeply-moving and utterly sympathetic portrayal as Judy Linden, whose husband falls in love with his brother’s wife, Olivia, the part taken by Joan Crawford in “The Shining Hour,” which is at the Mayfair Theatre. Olivia has been a cabaret dancer of rather doubtful reputation before her marriage to Henry Linden (Melvyn Douglas), and it is her entry into the aristocratic-farming family of Linden and the conflict of her sophisticated, city-bred ways with those of a rural community that cause the complications in the plot. The greatest complication is the frigid reception given Olivia by her. new sister-in-law, Hannah Linden (Fay Bainter), who is filled with family pride to the point of mania. Hannah makes no secret of the fact that she regards Olivia as a scarlet woman; her unbending attitude does as much as anything to drive Olivia into the arms of her brother-in-law (Robert Young) and finally, when it becomes tinged with religious fanaticism, it is positively dangerous. Sonja Henie is the leading player in “My Lucky Star,” the second attraction. Box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.