SCREEN SNAPSHOTS

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13382, 8 October 1936, Page 3

SCREEN SNAPSHOTS

“A TALE OF TWO CITIES” GRIPS AUDIENCES. NEW DICKENS DRAMA TAKES ITS PLACE WITH SCREENS FINEST FILM. Truly magnificent in its spectacular sweep, yet absorbing in its delightful intimacy, “A Tale of Two Cities,” starring Ronald Col man, opens on Saturday at the King’s Theatre. It takes its place among the immortal works of the screen, entertainment which cannot be praised too highly. * Ronald Colman’s fans will find Jaim at his best. He never has had a role which gave him such opportunity for the quiet Kbmour, the high drama and the poignancy he expresses so well. As Sydney Carton, whimsical, sardonic, brilliant wastrel, he reaches the peak of his artistic career.

“THESE THREE,” WITH MIRIAM HOPKINS-MERLE ODER ON. Cast: Martha Dobie, Miriam Hopkins ; Karen Wright, Merle Oberon; Dr. Joseph Cardin. Joel McCrea ; Mrs Mortar, Catherine Doucet; Mrs Tilford, Alma Kruger; Mary Tilford, Bonita Granville; Rosalie, Marcia Mae Jones; Evelyn, Carmencita Johnson; Agatha. Margaret Hamilton; Helen Burton, Marie Louise Cooper; taxi driver, Walter Brennan. How one vicious lie almost wrecked the lives of three innocent people is the powerful dramatic theme of “These Three,” Samuel Goldwyn s latest production, which brings Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon and Joel McCrea to the King’s Theatre next Tuesday and Wednesday.

DONAT IS STAR IN GREATEST DEMAND.

Not since the days of the matinee idol has there been so much demand for the services of a star as there is for those of Robert Donat. The handsome young .Englishman is being paged by even- studio in Europe and by every producer i n Hollywood. And at the same time London theatrical managers are frenziedly bidding Jfor his services. Cables are burning. Steamship, air. and railway lines are being kept open, figuratively speaking, to facilitate the actor’s frequent passages between Hollywood and his home in England. Consider the wide variety of his screen roles. Tn ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII.,” his first sizable

FILMS IN REVIEW.

I Th© story of “A Tale of Two j Cities" is intimately known to mili lions of readers. It tolls of the joys I and sorrows, the adventures and . trials of a little group of people, j English and French, who are caught • in the maelstrom of the Frenoh Revolution of 1789. Specifically, it tells of the strange love of Carlton and I Lucie Manette, played by Elizabeth j Allan—a love that was doomed to i frustration in life. yet which i transcends death in its sublime 1 majesty. With the star is a cast «»i li‘J : stars and featured players, most ot I them world favourites. Among I these. outstanding performances 1 :\r© contributed by Miss Allan. Edna May Oliver. Reginald Owen, Basil Oa tli bone. Blanche Yurka, Henry B. Walthall, Donald Woods, Walter Cathlett. Fritz Leiber, H. B. Warner, Mitchell Lewis. Claude Grillingwater. Billy Be van, Isabel Jewell, Lucille Laverne and Tully Marshall.

The story ol this Lillian Heilman screen play is laid in a small girls’ school which Martha Dobie < Miriam Hopkins) and Karen Wright (Merle Oberon) establish with the aid ot Joe Cardin, a young local doctor (Joel McCrea), whom both love. The whole school is harried by the presence of Mary HI ford, a vicious child given to glib lying and bullying of the other children. To evade punishment for a misdemeanour, she runs away from school inventing a malicious lie involving these three innocent adults as her reason. An ugly scandal develops, as a result of which tlio school is lost, the romance which had developed between Karen and Joe is broken and the lives of all three seem irreparably ruined until Martha succeeds in bringing the truth to light and the* story to a happy ending.

role, ho played the ill-fated votin' Culpepper, a tragic but romantic figure. In ‘-The Count of Monte Cnsto, which catapulted him to world fame overnight, he plaved the* romantic youngster we*U * the austere avenger. He was the dashing, mildly humorous adventuier in ‘ The 39 Steps. ' And now “5: comes to the scre»en of the* King s Theatre next week in a gay. ««Imost comic dual role as th.- irresistible. ghostly love»r .tntl the* harried young flesh-acd-blocd relation tor whom he* is constantlv mistaken m “The Ghost Goes West. ' Jean Parker and Euge*ne Pallett© support the star in this Alexander Korda prod notion, which the tam- « u.s Rene Glair directed for Loudon films. The comedy is released through United Artists.