AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24526, 7 February 1941, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

THE NEW PROGRAMMES : -*—■ ST. JAMES THEATRE Frank Morgan, as. a small-town citizen, invades high life amid varied trials and tribulations; all in the interest of comedy, in " The Ghost Comes Home," which will bring him to-day to .the St, James Theatre in a wild adventure with wealth and romance. Morgan plays a timid, henpecked pet-shop owner in a small town who suddenly becomes a man of prominence when a boyhood friend who made a fortune promises him- a million to spend improving the home town. His supposed death in a shipwreck and his return apparently from the dead complicates his hectic existence. The cast includes Billie Burke as his domineering wife, Ann Rutherford as his romantic daughter, John Shelton, Reginald Owen, Donald Meek. Nat Pendleton, and Frank Albertson. The story of "Dance, Charlie, Dance,". which will also be screened, is based on the experiences of a small town innocent, played by Stuart Erwin, who comes to New York to make a fortune. Quite by accident, he becomes owner oi a Broadwav hit, but not until he has passed through a storm of hilarious complications Jean Muir. Harvey Clark, Charles Foy, Olive Olson, Collette Lyons, and Chester Clute are included in the big cast of featured players. There are also two song hits by Jack Scholl and M. K. Jerome. Box plans are at the theatre/the D.1.C.. ana Jacobs'. OCTAGON THEATRE When a girl engaged to a successful insurance salesman embarks, on a platonlc pre-nuptial honeymoon with a poor but handsome artist, complications are bound to set in, with humorous results. This situation is embodied in the new Ronald Colman-Ginger, Rogers picture, " Lucky Partners," which will commence a season at the Octagon Theatre to-day. What happens during and after the honeymoon is said to make for sparkling, entertainment. The novel premise hinges on an agreement made between a pretty bookshop girl and a Greenwich Village artist, who jointly purchase a winning sweepstakes ticket. Determined that the girl shall at least have a honeymoon trip on which her future husband frowns, the gay artist uses his share of the winnings to show her the country. At Niagara Falls, however, the platonic phase of their unusual agreement slowly melts away under the spell of a romantic mooh-~and then the complications develop at a pace that makes this smart comedy-romance one of the most delightful offerings in years. Box plans are at the theatre and Begg's. GRAND THEATRE Joe E. Brown has probably the funniest face in Hollywood, but it is not only his large mouth that has made him famous. In "• So You Won't Talk," the main attraction at the Grand Theatre, Joe plays a dual role of two totally opposite characters and he shows that his acting ability Is exceptional. , He appears first as a timid and absent-minded book-critic who likes to hide behind an extensive beard and a pair of spectacles. Strange to say, he wins the affection of an attractive young girt who gets him to assert himself and to shave off his whiskers. Complications immediately set in, fpr without the beard he is the living image of a desperate criminal. In this roje Joe is the perfect " tough." How the bookcritic finally does assert himself makes delightful comedy. The associate film, "Glamour For Sale," deals with a new and formidable gangster racket. The Companion Club provides girl escorts who endeavour to get their partners intoxi* cated. Hirelings of the club take a photo of the man drunk and with a girl. The following day the man is shown the picture and is blackmailed. How this racket is successfully smashed makes an exciting film. Anita Louise and Roger Pryor share the leading roles. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg's. REGENT THEATRE Opening a season at the Regeni Theatre to-day is the Paramount production " The Way of All Flesh," In which are featured Akim Tamiroff. Gladys George, William Henry, and Muriel Angelus. In the opening scenes the picture shows tht happy home life of Paul Kriza—played by Tamiroff—a small town bank cashier He is sent to New York to deliver £25,000 worth of bank securities to a client arriving from abroad. When, through the complicity of a beautiful adventuress he loses the money and the body of f. man-is found on a railroad track with Kriza s watch and wallet beside it, he is believed to be dead; Realising that for him to return aliVe means shame, and disgrace for his wife and children, he condemns himself to become a homeless, broken man. shunning all who might recognise him Also on the programme is the latest British documentary film, "Men of the Lightship," whtch provides nearly 30 minutes of extraordinary entertainment. As an action picture, showing with breath-taking realism the bombing of the East Rudgeon lightship by the Germans a few months ago, ''Men of the Lightship" is an outstanding example. Nobody could fail to be moved by that aspect of it. But, in addition, discerning picturegoers will notice in it such a subtlety of expression, such a sure and certain touch with real men and real things, as will thoorughly excite their imaginations. Box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. ■ ■ j STATE THEATRE The featured film at the State Theatre to-day will be " Band Wagon," starring the Inimitable Arthur Askey,, Britain's newest and most popular vaudeville radio star. Arthur Askey was born in Liverpool. When a small child, he used to escort his mother to various pantomimes, and from seeing these performances he actually gained a leaning towards the stage; At the Liverpool Institute, young Askey became the centre of all amateur shows. He was also the leading light of the church choir of St. Michael-ln-the-Hamlet, Liverpool When the 1914 war clouds hovered over Europe, Askey was only 13—not old enough to join the forces, and so to " do his bit " he went the rounds of the various Liverpool hospitals singing to the wounded soldiers. When reaching the age of necessity of working for his living, Askey took the post of clerk In the Liverpool Municipal Council. He never advanced, and by. the year 1924 he was still just a " pin-striped clerk." When performing at a private party, a producer noted his talent and offered him the job of principal comedian at the Olympic Gardens, Rockferry, at £6 10s a week, and that started him on the road to success. Box plans are at the theatre and Begg's. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE To the difficult '■ role of "' Chips" in the magnificent film " Good-bye, Mr Chips." which will start a return season at His Majesty's Theatre to-day, Robert Donat brings a forthright and sincere acting talent which marks him as.; one of the outstanding actors on the screen. Playing four different stages in the life of the genial schoolmaster, from youth to old age, Donat makes him at once a human man, eccentric at times, but always understandable and lovable, and a symbol of the great profession of teach r ing. It is a performance which will live in the memory of screengoers for some time to come. Although " Good-bye, Mr Chips" is dominated by Donat's powerful characterisation, tremendous appeal is offered in the role of his wife, played by Greer Garson. Also of Importance is a "March of Time" feature showing the first of the 25-ton Boeing flying fortresses in action with the Royal Air Force. The story of the transfer of these powerful weapons is traced from the time it was first mooted. Other " shots" include a Benchley comedy, a " Crime Doesn't Pay, and a presentation of " Mendelssohn s Wedding March." Box plans are at the theatre, the D.I.C. and Jacobs's. EMPIRE THEATRE In creating a mystery story—whether it is to be read or seen in picture form —the prime essential is to provide clues and yet be able to. baffle everyone as to the solution until the actual denouement. Advance reports Indicate that Paramount has achieved this far too infrequent feat in its latest mystery-

comedy-thriller, " The Ghost Breakers, which will commence screening to-day at the Empire Theatre. The stars of "The Cat and the Canary," Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, are again the stars, supported by a band-picked cast which features Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas, Anthony Qulnn and Willie Best. In the story Paulette inherits, an eerie castle on an island off Cuba. Mysterious people, seemingly unrelated, warn her not to visit her estate and its house of horror, as death awaits her. Desperate efforts are made to persuade her to sell, but—aided and abetted by Bob - Hopeshe spends a weirdly nerve-wracking night in the castle, peopled with ghosts, voodoo threats, sliding panels, ruthless murderers, and hidden dungeons. Seldom has such a thoroughly bewildering mystery been filmed. Directed by George Marshall, the screen play is by Walter De Leon and based on a play by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard. Box plans are at the theatre and, the D.I.C. _ ! STRAND THEATRE " Rancho Grande;*' Gene Autry's latest musical Western; will be shown at the Strand Theatre, today. It Is an engaging tale about a ranch foreman who saves the Dodge holdings from foreclosure and is told In a spritely manner with lilting songs and gay dialogue. Autry plays the young foreman of the Rancno Grande, who is guardian of the madcap Dodge heirs—Kay Dodge, her.brother and boon companion Tom, and their kid sister Patricia. Because of the antics of the Dodges, Gene has a hard time counteracting the treachery of Benson, the family lawyer, who is striving to gain control of the Rancho Grande. Benson Is constantly stirring the Dodges intoTevolt against what they consider Gene s iron-band tactics. Also; on the bill will be "he latest Aldrlch Family film starring Jackie Cooper, and entitled Life Witn Henry," who plays the same role he had in the first of the series, /' What a Life. Box plans are at the theatre and the D.LC. MAYFAIR THEATRE Hollywood has many comedians of the " dithering " type, and! the most successful is.probably Frank Morgan, who, in "Henry Goes Arizona," the main film on the Mayfair Theatre's Programme, scores, another success. Other comedians in the cast are Guy Kibbee and Slim Summerville. Providing a good contrast to this comedy is '■ 20,000 Men a Year, a drama of the United States air training, scheme. The . strong cast features Randolph Scott. Margaret Lindsay and Preston Foster. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.