SCREEN and STAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24606, 14 May 1941, Page 4

SCREEN and STAGE

By Harlequin

Octagon Theatre One of the finest combinations of talent ever assembled for one picture makes Darryl F. Zanuck's technicolor production of "Maryland," which will come to the Octagon Theatre on Friday, outstanding entertainment. Walter Brennan, who was " Kentucky's" Academy Award-winning star, heads the impressive cast of " Maryland." Always a fine interpreter of character parts, he scores even more solidly in his new role. Fay Bainter, who won an award for her brilliant work in " Jezebel," has a role which should bring her new honours. Brenda Joyce and John Payne, two of the screen's new shining lights, share the romantic honours. Charlie Ruggles and Marjorie Weaver are two other bright personalities .in the cast. Hattie McDaniel. who won an Academy Award as the lovable "Mammy" of "Gone With the Wind," has a similar role in "Maryland." The absorbing story centres on a. mother's aversion to horses after her husband has been thrown and killed during a fox hunt. Despite her inhibitions, her son becomes an expert horseman and. further to complicate the situation, he falls in love with the granddaughter of a horse trainer. All the glory, romance and traditions of the South are captured in the development of the intensely human story. "New Moori"

Mayfair Theatre

Adapted from the world-famous musical operetta by Sigmund Romberg, " New Moon," which will open a season at the Regent Theatre on Friday, is the sixth starring picture for Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. In it they return to the romantic locale and period of their first film, "Naughty Marietta." "New Moon" is placed in New Orleans some two centuries ago, when ladies wore big, Looped skirts and powdered wigs, and the male of the species was, if anything. more gaily dressed than the female. It was the period, too, when pirates, armed to the teeth with cutlasses, culvirons and so forth, plied the Caribbean Sea. And of them all, the most dashing, debonair, and daring was Charles, exiled Due de Vidier, just as the loveliest of the ladies was Marianne, Mile, de Beaumanoir. So it was quite inevitable that they should meet, fall in love beneath a lazy Louisiana moon, should part and finally meet again, this time never to part. The course of their romance is told in songs that the world has been singing for years, and still counts as amongst its favourite ballads. Jeanette and Nelson sing the duet "Wanting You" and "Lover, Come Back to Me." which Jeanette later gives as a solo. Jeanette sings "One Kiss" and "Paree," while Nelson renders, with a male choir, the stirring " Stout-hearted Men," and sings the lovely "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise."

From GREEN ROOM and STUDIO

"The Spellbinder" Although courtroom scenes are freciuently depicted on the screen, the unscrupulous trickery by which some criminal lawyers befuddle juries and secure unjustified acquittals of murderer clients has seldom been fully revealed to theatre-goers. In "The Spellbinder," in which Lee Tracy is starred in the title role, such tactics are vividly disclosed.. Tracy portrays the role of a glib, resourceful, but unscrupulous criminal attorney ■- whose courtroom tactics save many criminals from receiving their just deserts. When his schoolgirl daughter, played by Barbara Read, falls in love with a murderer whom Tracy has successfully defended, dramatic complications result which are said to make ' The Spellbinder," which will be screened at the St. James Theatre next Friday one of the season's most exciting offerings. In the supporting cast besides Miss Read are Patnc Knowles. Allan Lane, and Linda Hayes. The associate film is the popular "Andy Hardv Meets a ""Debutante."

"Tom ■ Brown's Schooldays,' the classic story which has thrilled millions of readers for almost a century, has been brought to the screen as a gripping, vivid, and exciting entertainment for young and old. The mcture, which will open at the Mayfair Theatre this afternoon for three matinees and three nights, traces the remarkable career of the historic Dr Thomas Arnold, headmaster of England s famous Rugby School from 1824 to 1841. who was th e inventor of the honour system, and the man who revolutionised the world's scholastic ideas by the insistence that a school's first duty is to build character and manhood, not. sterile scholarship. "Tom Browns Schooldays." tells in striking fashion the dramatic story of his beliefs, his struggles, and his final triumph through the eves of Tom Brown, a young Rugby scholar, and his fellows. The adventures, exploits, and troubles of the youngsters, their battles with schoolvard' bullies, and their awakening of the meaning of Dr Arnold's rigid but benevolent rule over them all make a stirring film. As the resolute doctor, Sir Cedric Hardwicke gives what is unquestionably his finest performance to date. The sensational boy star, Jimmy Lydon, plays Tom Brown, and Freddie Bartholomew and Harry East are prominent. Others in the cast are Josephine Hutchinson, Billy Halop, and Ernest Cossart. There is an abundance of exciting action in the supporting picture, "Rovin' Tumbleweeds," Gene Autry's latest western adventure.

" Play Girl" When a beautiful young girl falls in love with the man she is supposed to lure into a trap for the purpose of blackmail, it causes novel complications to pile up for Kay Francis, star of "Play Girl," which will be shown at the State Theatre on Friday. Drama and humour are combined in the story, which deals with the adventures of a fascinating fortune hunter whose failure to trap her latest man forces her to recognise that she is passe. She hits upon the bright idea of grooming a young girl in the gentle art of fleecing wealthy play boys, so the two can live in the luxury she always has- enjoyed. Mildred Coles is cast as a penniless but beautiful girl who reluctantly enters into the partnership. Together they make deep inroads into the b'mk accounts of susceptible, rich bachelors from coast to coast—until James Ellison, as a cattle baron's son, comes along. True romance stops the campaign and brings about complications that make for dramatic entertainment. The cast also includes Nigel Bruce, Margaret Hamilton, Katharine Alexander, and George P. Huntley. Strand Theatre

Maintaining the high standard of their popular film series, Richard Arlen and Andy Devine's new co-starring picture. Universale "The Devil's Pipeline," will be shown at the Strand Theatre on Friday. Abounding, in thrills, action and suspense, lightened by comic and romantic interludes, the production contains top-flight entertainment. Dick and Andy are seen as American engineers delegated to investigate mysterious events at their company's oilfields on a tropical island. Discovery of corrupt practices involving the company's manager'and tht island police chief leads to a spectacular skirmish between white men and natives. Described as whirlwind comedy in which the hero is married while suffering from loss of memory, then awakens to find-himself "on the spot," Universal's new laugh drama. " Love, Honor and Oh-Baby!" is the associate film. With Wallace Ford in the role of a hot-headed reporter bent on capturing a phantom gangster, the picture features Donald Woods, Mona Barrie, Kathryn Adams, beautiful screen newcomer, Warren Hymer and Merc Lawrence.

Grand Theatre Retribution that comes to a newspaper reporter after his testimony convicts a taxi-driver, of murder makes the unusual theme of the dramatic film, " Stranger on the Third Floor," the chief attraction at the Grand Theatre to-day. This retribution takes the form of a series of odd happenings that involve the reporter himself in a similar situation as a suspect in a killing, after a strange experience has forewarned him of his fate. His efforts to escape the circumstantial net being drawn about him lead to the thrilling climax of the film. Peter Lorre heads the cast in the title role, while John McGuire plays the part of the reporter, and Margaret Tillichet that of his pretty fiancee. Thrills and excitement are promised in " Wildcat Bus," the associate film, featuring Fay Wray. Charles Lang and Paul Guiifoyle in a story dealing with the illegal activities of the men who organise private car drivers into wildcat transportation concerns to compete with the established transcontinental bus lines. The subject is timely as well as thrilling. Don Costello. Leona Roberts, Paul McGrath and Roland Drew have important roles. Dunedin Writer's Plays Of considerable interest to the followers of the stage in Dunedin is the forthcoming production of four oneact plays by a local author, Owen Fletcher, who will present the plays he has chosen in the Town Hall Concert Chamber on Thursday, May 29. Mr Fletcher has a' dozen plays, to his credit, a number of them having been written while the young playwright was in training with the 2nd Scottish Battalion at Forbury Park. The first play on the programme is a phantasy, " I Remember You," which has as its setting a mountain top in Norway. Miss Margaret McLay, who appeared with such success,in. "Pride and Prejudice," has.the central*role of Gretta. Others in the cast are Misses Doris Nees, Wyn Comer, Myra McKechie, and Messrs Leslie Jack and J. Haleis.

The second item is the Mime ballet, " Goldilocks and the Thpee ; Bears," fashioned on the old fairy tale. It introduces Miss Jocelyn Tapley as Goldilocks. In this lavish ballet, there are 25 players, who make up as the Three Bears, Prince Charming, the mice, and sprites, people of the forest and court ladies. The thijrd offering,is "Friendly Relations," & broad comedy with a New Ztaland setting. Miss Alice Clarke appears as Marcia, the American sister, while the Phipps family consist of Messrs C. R. Smith. Rawdon Burnard, Mrs S. Glanville and Miss Billie Loan. The last play is a sophisticated comedy, " Gentlemen of the Ballet," which centres around Madam Maria Setipa. the ballet mistress (Mrs Gordon Douglas) and her pupil Antan Serov (Edward Neilson). The part of the jealous ballerina is taken by Mrs lan Stevenson. The entire proceeds will be devoted to the £20,000 Comforts for Fighters' Funds, Ingrid Bergman For a foreign star, Ingrid Bergman seems to fit no familiar pattern. Compared with most of the overseas sisterhood who have preceded her to Hollywood, the Swedish actress is not a

" type." She needs an accent. Her English is flawless. She arrived with fewer than 100 trunks. There is no retinue of retainers. One merely steps up and smiles, and the sunny response might be that of any average girl.

It is not what Hollywood has .come to expect. But Hollywood likes it. Now in America for the second time, in Columbia's "Adam Had Four Sons." with Warner Baxter. Susan Hayward and Fay Wray, Miss Bergman hopes there will not be a third. She would like to make this visit permanent. Miss Bergman is but 23. Tall, slender, blonde and bewitching in a fresh, natural way. she is a native of Stockholm, and has been on the screen for five years. Her first and only other American picture was " Intermezzo." a year ago, and it won her a following equal to her success in Swedish and French talking films. In "Adam Had Four Sons" the actress plays Emilie. the governess who in her own quiet way helps Warner Baxter in his 20year struggle to bring up four motherless sons. "Alice Faye " War Tank

Alice Faye has received unusual news from England. She was infoi-med in a letter from Richard Greene, young film star now in the British Army, that a huge new 60-ton war tank has been named in her honour by the men in his division. He is in the Armoured Corps. In his letter, Greene stated that the men in his division were given the ch< ice of naming the new tank and took a vote to determine what film star was to be honoured. ■ A majority voted for the singing star and Richard was permitted to smash a bottle of champagne over the tank and formally christen it "Alice Faye." To shew her appreciation of the honour paid her by the British Tommies, Alice although very busy preparing for her role in " The Great American Broadcast." arranged for the shipment to the division of enough boxes of choice Californian oranges to go around the entire division.

lii Search of Privacy There is one price for stardom in the motion pictures that the stars have found is almost too high to pay. That price is the loss of their privacy. Interviewers demand to know everything about the star from their daily diet to the vagaries of romance. Every move is published in chatter columns. Flashlights are continually exploding in their faces. After two or thre years, the stars begin a desperate battle to recapture some semblance of privacy in their non-professional lives. A number of them buy ranches, hunting and fishing lodges, and other hideouts. Others sneak out of Hollywood on unheralded trips, keeping in touch only with their business agents. The latter method, for example, was adopted by Fred Astaire after completing Paramount's "Second Chorus." Astaire remained in Hollywood for a couple of weeks after he had finished his work, posing for pictures, accepting appoint-' ments for interviews, and complying with other demands. Then, he disappeared literally overnight. Reports trickled in tracing him to New York and other eastern cities. William Boyd, the Hopalong Cassidy of the screen. owns a ranch within a few miles of Hollywood, but he might as well be in the innermost recesses of the Panamints in so far as reaching him is concerned. In between pictures. Boyd takes his wife. Grace Bradley, to the ranch, which has no telephone, which is'almost entirely self-supporting, and about which Hollywood knows little or nothing. The same is true of Joel McCrea and his wife. Frances Dee. The only way to get in touch with McCrea is by messenger. While William Wellman. Paramount producer-director, was preparing "Reaching for the Sun." in which McCrea is featured with Ellen Drew, he became so exasperated with delays to reach McCrea for conferences that he offered personally to lease an apartment in Hollywood if McCrea would move into town. McCrea laughed, declined the offer, but leased an apartment himself. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack to find Bing Crosby, Claudette Colbert, Dorothy Lamour. Fred Mac Murray.

Albert Dekkef, Ray Milland, and many of the other stars. They are generally somewhere in California, but to paraphrase a certain advertising slogan, " even their worst friends won't tell on them." " Old Bill and Son " <' Old Bill and Son," a sparkling new British picture, starring Bruce Bairnsfather's world-famous character, " Old Bill," will shortly be screened throughout New Zealand. " Old Bill" was created in France and brought up in the last war trench mud. His humour cheered everybody. Here is what Morland Graham, who plays " Old Bill" in the picture, says about him: "When I was in France in the last war there was no funny side of army life, but Bairnsfather's drawings made one for us. I personally have seen countless situations which were only saved because we became used to the 'Old Bill' approach to everything." But in this war there is a new generation and a " Young Bill." He has been made a cheeky Cockney, and, like all young men. he has his own ideas as 'to how wars are won. He is played by John Mills. His arguments with his father and the experiences the two go through in France make screen entertainment that is of the very best. " Old Bill" is too " mature" for the army to-day, but manages to enlist in the Pioneer Corps. His son is in the regular army and his step-daughter in the A.T.S. When they meet in France they supply some of the finest humour heard on the British screen for many a day. This is a picture which gets away from the hackneyed theme of war films. It presents solely the human element which, as any army man knows, gives ample material for the screen. Film Topics

Peter Lorre has been signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a role m " The Uniform," in which Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell are co-starring. He will portray the skipper of a rusty freighter plying the China Seas. Jeffrey Lynn has been taken to hospital with a split lip. seven-tirnes-Ftitched scar on check, after getting the worst end of an automobile accident. He is doing fine.