AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24431, 17 October 1940, Page 11

AMUSEMENTS

THE CURRENT PROGRAMMES REGENT THEATRE “Judge Hardy and Son,’ which will have its final screening to-day at the Regent Theatre, is one of the finest ot these particular films yet to be screened. Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy is, of course, the main attraction, and, as usual, his love affairs are as numerous as they are unsuccessful. Lewis Stone plays the role of Judge Hardy, Fay Holden Mrs Hardv. and Cecilia Parker the daughter of the family. An aged couple in rather poor circumstances seek Judge Hardy’s advice regarding their home, which, owing to mortgages is to be taken from them.. It is Judge Hardy’s task and Andy Hardy’s too, to solve the difficulty, and. needless to say. they find the job much to their liking. There is ■ a splendid supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. “ MAYERLING ” The remarkable film “ Mayerling,” to be presented at the Regent Theatre to-mor-row, is based on the unhappy but beautiful love story of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria for the Baroness Marie Vetsera Forced into an unhappy marriage to Stephanie of Belgium for reasons of state, Rudolph turned to a dissolute life. Then he met the lovely 17-year-old Marie, and applied to Rome for an annulment of his marriage, Charles Boyer, as the dissipated, disappointed archduke, gives a magnificent characterisation. Danielle Darrieux, as Marie, shows us her real calibre as ah actress. It was her performance in “ Mayerling which inspired America to Import her, but although she has been charming in her Hollywood films, she has not had such an opportunity to display her dramatic power. Vienna has been synthetically presented tar too frequently as a romantic setting. This film makes up for all the others The background, with its political intrigue, its gipsy orchestras, is finely done. So, too, are the lesser roles, but all are only an accompaniment to the moving beauty of the two centra! roles and their story

STATE THEATRE A hilarious tale of a jilted sweetheart and a baby which throws a naval squadron into confusion when it is discovered on board one of the vessels during battle practice is told in “ Sailor's Lady,” which heads the current programme at the State Theatre. Nancy Kelly and Jon Hall appear as a girl and a sailor who are engaged to be married, but who, through the intervention of his shipmates, are prevented from marx-ying during his brief shore leave The girl has adopted a small child, and when her plans are upset she places the infant in his cabin just before his ship sails. The excitement and rage occasioned on the quarter deck when the child is discovered are increased when gun practice starts and the concussion makes the child hysterical. and the frantic messages exchanged between the ships concerning the diminutive stowaway create further embarrassment. The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg’s. “LITTLE OLD NEW YORK’’ ” Little Old New York,” a robust, rollicking, romantic drama, will commence a season to-morrow at the State Theatre, with Alice Faye, Fred Mac Murray, Richard Greene and Brenda Joyce heading a brilliant cast which Includes Andy Devine. Henry Stephenson and Fritz Feld " Little Old New York ” brings back those days when cows roamed Fifth avenue, and the Astors and the Roosevelts were just 'Starting on their way. New York’s waterfront was a maze of sailing ships, whose rigging made an exotic network against the sky and whose bowsprits jutting into the shore made progress along the waterfront streets like walking under a beamed ceiling. It was a robust, hale-and-hearty life New Yorkers led in those days, typified in the story of the barmaid belle of the brawling waterfront who fought the whole town to win the love and i¥hare in the glory of such a man as Robert Fulton The headstrong belle Is Alice Faye, who finds herself In rivalry with Brenda Joyce, niece of Fulton’s wealthy backer, for the affections of Fulton, played by Richard Greene. EMPIRE THEATRE Douglas Fairbanks, jun., and Joan Bennett head the cast in “ Green Hell,” the current attraction at the Empire Theatre. The story deals with the adventures of an archeological expedition in search of Inca ruins far from civilisation. Hale plays the role of Dr Loren, who engages a hardbitten explorer to lead the party. The situations that develop when - she finds that she was never really married to Richardson are well handled, and there are some exciting sequences, one a terrific battle with natives. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.

“THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS” Universal will parade perhaps the most astounding camera trickery ever filmed when the new mystery drama, “ The Invisible Man Returns,” starts its season at the Empire Theatre to-morrow. A brandnew story suggested by “ The Invisible Man,” written by H. G. Wells, and produced In 1933, has been drafted with an aim towards topping even the eerie thrills of the earlier film. Vincent Price has the title role, similar to that formerly portrayed by Claude Rains. Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nan Grey, John Sutton and Alan Napier are on hand as leaders In a cast that includes many capable supporting players. The new picture traces the story of a man condemned to death for the murder of his brother, but who escapes from prison after being made invisible by ■ the doctor, who holds the secret formula The Invisible Man’s efforts to trap the criminals actually responsible for the murder provide the action, while suspense grows from the doctor's desperate attempts to find the antidote to the dread invisibility drug. Romance, not Included in the first picture, is injected into the new film with a love match between Miss Grey and the Invisible Man. Stamped as “ impossible to film,” but nevertheless accomplished, are such weird scenes as those which find the Invisible Man in action while clothed but headless; swinging unseen fists which readily knock out his opponents; undressing and vanishing into thin air: drinking wine; smoking: weilding a rope and gun; and performing other startling deeds while Invisible. STRAND THEATRE Those tough youngsters, the Dead End Kids, who were joined in their film career bv other lads, and became known as the Littlfe Tough Guys, again reveal their astonishing exuberance in " slapping one another down” on the slightest provocation, in Universal’s diverting “ You’re Not So Tough.” which will close its Dunedin season to-day at the Strand Theatre. In their latest vehicle they have left the city slums and ,are following the fruit pickers’ trail in California. Billy Halop is against the leader of the rowdy group, and how he helps to outwit the executive of a crooked growers’ association forms the main theme of this always entertaining film. The supporting film is " The Kid From Kokoma.” The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.

•• HOT STEEL ” Romance blends with stirring dramatic scenes in the Universal film “ Hot Steel,” which stars Richard Arlen and Andy Devine and will open a season at the Strand Theatre to-morrow. Proving itself one of the most impressive productions in which these two favourites have yet appeared, the story is told in and around a giant steel mill where the stars have roles of furnacemen. Martha Raye and Charlie Ruggles romp (heir way through the comedy, which will be in support. It is " The Farmer’s Daughter,” and tells of the difficulties of film producing while on “ location.” The farmer’s daughter, played by Martha, is a girl who has a flair for doing the wrong thing, and she manages to complicate Ruggles’s affairs considerably. ST. JAMES THEATRE Good light entertainment is to be had at the St. James Theatre this week, where the two features are “ Come On, George.” a George Formby comedy. It is replete with those inimitable songs and foolery of which Formby is a master. His adventures with a horse named Maneater are extremely ridiculous, but he carries off the most absurd situations with unconcern. " Colorado Sunset ” finds Gene Autry and his merry men engaged in dairy farming. There is a milk ” war ” in progress, but the action is far from being milk-and-watery. The box plans are at the theatre, the D.1.C.. and Jacobs’. “ BAD LITTLE ANGEL ” Drama, intimate, human moments, a few thrills and the inspiration of the faith and courage of a little child make good entertainment out of “ Bad Little Angel,” a romance of childhood coming to the St. James Theatre to-morrow. Teaming Virginia Weidler, of " The Women ” and “ Out West with the Hardys,” and Gene Reynolds, of “ Boys’ Town ” and ” They Shall Have Music,” the new picture is one of those down-to-earth. homely stories that grip the memory. Miss Weidler plays a little orphanage waif whose implicit faith In the Bible leads her through life. She runs away from the orphanage to a sleepy little New Jersfey town, where the local newspaper editor and his wife take her

in. The editor loses his job when he incurs the wrath ot the town millionaire. The little girl, with her Bible, sets out to repair matters. Romance and advenlure are combined with hilarious results in “Fast Company,” the new mystery drama in support, which reveals the inside of the stolen rare book racket. Melvyn Douglas, Florence Rice, Claire Dodd, Sheppard Strudwick, Louis Calhern, Nat Pendleton and Douglas Dumbnlle are featured in the cast of capable performers. “ Fast Company ” is an unusual background for a mystery drama revealing the activities of racketeers who steal and duplicate rare volumes that are sold for enormous prices

OCTAGON THEATRE Cary Grant and Irene Dunne have the principal roles in the piquant and diverting domestic comedy. “My Favourite Wife.” which is at present being shown at the Octagon Theatre. Grant and Miss Dunne enhance their considerable reputation as a clever comedy team in tins production, and provide a large number of hilarious scenes Grant is seen as a man who, upon the day he marries for the second time, is unexpectedly confronted by his first wife, whom he imagined had died in a shipwreck some years previously He discovers that he is still in love with his first wife, and cannot pluck up enough courage to tell his second wife of her supposed piedecessor’s return from the grave. The story is worked out through devious and entertaining channels until harmony is once more restored. The box plan- are at the theatre and at Begg s. “ TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS 1' Sir Cedric Hardwicke, noted character actor, who was knighted tor his distinction, brings to a climax a long line of unusual stage and screen portrayal with a powerful characterisation m tom Brown’s School Days, the RK ° picture in which he will be seen with a notable cast at the Octagon Theatie tomorrow Hardwicke, remembeied as Livingstone in “ Stanley and Livingston , and as the King’s high Justice In Hunchback of Notre Dame, depicts Dr Arnold, a beloved figure in English school history who strove to supplant the ancient horror system of training with the- honour system, which underlies the universal school system to-day His efforts are Interwoven with the development of a group of boys at Rugby, notably Tom Brown, who is portrayed by lb-year-old Jimmy Lydon. Freddie Bartholomew. Josephine Hutchinson and Billy Halop also have featured roles in this Gene Towne-Graham Baker production

GRAND THEATRE TENSE PRISON DRAMA The new programme which commenced a season yesterday at the Grand Theatre is headed by a gripping drama of American prison Ufq with a tense climax in the attempt of a band of convicts to effect an escape. Nothing has been left undone which could have added to the realism of the situation, and the acting of thq principals leaves nothing to be desired The story commences with the appointment of the Rev T. Storm as chaplain of a notoriously brutal prison, and from the start he fails to gain the approval of the warden and the guard captain. He is instrumental in preventing a prison break on his first day in the institution, knocking out the leader of a gang of desperadoes. He finds that the prisoners hate him for a ’ stool pigeon.” There arrives a youth who has got himself into prison with the single intention of killing the captain of the guard, who had beaten his father to death, and this boy is placed In the cell of the leader of the rioters. Storm dissuades him from his intention, but the boy’s cell mate kills the captain and the boy is blamed. The killer, however, is persuaded by Storm that the boy was trying to be his friend, and he sets o'j.t to blow up the laundry boiler room as the first step in a scheme to liberate ttie youth. His scheme fails, but he Is successful in the end in sacrificing himself to enable the young man to start life again on a better footing, John Lite! has a fine role as the prison padre, and Barton Mac Lane is very convincing as the toughest member of a tough community. Glenn Ford makes an excellent job of the character of the youth seeking revenge, and Rochelle Hudson, as his sweetheart, brings feminine glamour to an otherwise grim scene. The other picture is '* Hollywood Roundup,” with the ever-popular Buck Jones at the head of the cast, and Helen Twelvetrees. Grant Withers and, other well-known players in support. Here the hero of a thousand gun fights on the screen is the " stand in.” or double, for a conceited star in a movie studio The latter hales the popularity which surrounds his. double, and loses no opportunity to insult him. Blows follow, and Buck is discharged He then gets blamed for a bank robbery, but a youthful friend helps him to escape from gaol, and he succeeds in rounding up the real culprits and discomfiting the man whose pettiness was the cause of the whole trouble. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s.

MAYFAIR THEATRE TALE OF GANGSTER’S CAREER “ Scai-face,” a grim and dramatic tale of tlxe rise and fall of an American gangster, is the new attraction at the Mayfair Theatre. Paul Muni gives a charactex’istically thorough and convincing portrayal of the gangster who intrigues and shoots his way to the position of the 9 boss of the underworld, and in doing so murders his best friend and first lieutenant, played by George Raft. Nemesis overtakes him in the end, however, and when he is no longer surrounded by his gunmen he displays the cowardly streak which the forces of law and order have always suspected was present in his character. The second picture is “ Little Accident.” in which " Baby Sandy.” Florence Rice and Hugh Herbert have the principal roles. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.