AMUSEMENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19623, 5 May 1938, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

KING'S THEATRE "SAID O'REILLY TO McNAB" AND "THERE GOES THE GROOM": LAST NIGHT '•Said O'Reilly to McNab," one of the gayest comedies ever produced in Great Britain, heads the double-feature programme which ends to-night at the King's Theatre. It stars two famous comedians, Will FyfTe and Will Mahoney, who are seen together for the first time, bringing their rich characteristic Irish-American and Scottish fun-making to the screen. They are supported by an exceptionally strong cast. What happens when an Alaskan prospector returns with a "sourdough" cbmpatiion to claim a college sweetheart, if that sweetheart has occupied her time with a fresh romance during the prospector's absence, is demonstrated in "Theree Goes th Groom," the comedy romance which is the second feature. Burgess Meredith and Ann Sothern are the stars. —To-morrow: "Return of the Pimpernel"—

A long-awaited picture, "The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel," produced by Alexander Korda and a sequel to his earlier success, "The Scarlet Pimpernel," will have its first Gisborne screenings at the King's Theatre tomorrow. The young English actor. Barry K. Barnes, brings to life that immortal hero created by Baroness Orczy, "the elusive Pimpernel," giving a characterisation which classes him as one of the foremost discoveries in film history. All the old familiar characters are portrayed excellently; Sir Percy Blakeney. as debonair, foppish and courageous as ever; Chauvelin (Francis Lister) as scoundrelly and smooth as always; Robespierre (Henry Oscar), as murderous as a revolutionary dictator should be; the Pimpernel's beautiful wife, played by Sophie Stewart, again an important pawn in the French game. The story opens in the year 1797, when Paris is under the heel of Robespierre, liberty, equality and fraternity having given way to a ruthless dictatorship. Robespierre is incensed at the affront to his power offered by the League of the Sacrlcl Pimpernel, directed by Sir Percy from England. He therefore commands hi.; Minister of Police, Chauvelin, to capture the Pimpernel and bring him to trial as an enemy of the Revolution. Chauvelin decides to strike through Lady Blakeney, and to this end enlists the "services of the Spanish actress Theresia Cabarrus (Margucrctta Scott). He gets her into his. power by threatening the life of her love-, the young Deputy Tallien (James Mason). The bargain is struck—if Theresia succeeds to kidnap Lady Blakeney and bring her to France, with Sir Percy in pursuit, she and Tallien will be taken otr the list of the condemned. The plan succeeds and the daring Englishman and his French and English companions are more than once cornered by the wily Chauvelin before the picture reaches a thrilling climax, in which the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel is responsible for the downfall of Chauvelin and the overthrow of Robespierre and his dicuitorship. A "March of Time" heads the supporting programme. Intending patrons are urged by the management to book as early as possible.

MAJESTIC THEATRE LAST DAYS "DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI" AND "SHE MARRIED AN ARTIST." The current double-biil which has been delighting Majestic audiences will conclude to-night. "Daughter of Shanghai" is a refreshing change in picture fare and stars Anna May Woh'g, Charles Bickford, and Larry Crabbe. "She Married an Artist" is a delightful comedy-romance introducing the new star, Luli Deste, with John Boles and Helen Westley. —To-morrow: Zahe Grey's "liorii to the West" and "Love on Toast" — Life is just one gay lark for John Wayne, a happy-go-lucky cowhand in Paramount's "Born to the West," Zane Grey's action-drama which opens tomorrow, until he happens to drift into a cow town where his cousin, John Mack Brown, is the pig power. Brown offers to give Wayne a job, but the latter refuses—until he sees Marsha Hunt, and decides to stay. In order to win the girl it becomes necessary for him to break up a rustlers' band, expose a gang of crooked gamblers, head a cattle drive through dangerous country, arid prove to Miss Hunt that he is a better man than this cousinall of which he does to everybody's satisfaction. The effects of a coup company to sell soup by running a contest to find the handsomest man tin the country forms the background of "Love on Toast," Paramount's hilarious farce comedy which will complete the double bill. The contest is engineered by Stella Ardler and is won, unwittingly, by John Payne. The fun starts when Payne, a soda fountain attendant, refuses to keep up the nonsense and Miss Ardler insists that he must, and finishes in a wild free for-all in which pies, whipped cream and custards are Used as weapons. Grant Richards, Katherine "Sugar' Kane, Benny Baker, Isabel Jewell and Luis Alberni are among the funmakers assembled to play this story. The song Kits are "I'd Love to Play a Love Scene" and "I Want a New Romance." The opening chapter ol the new serial, "Tim Tyler's Luck,' will introduce some new jungle thrills.

REGENT THEATRE •SMILLV THROUGH": NORMA SHEARER Only one night remains of the season for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's clas-i sic "Smilin' Through." With such I sterling actors as Fredrie March and Leslie Howard supporting Norma Shearer, "Smilin' Through" still works its spell of tears and smiles, Still sways the heart by its moments of" pathos which precede and follow {Tie lighter moments or gaiety. Not even in her more recent brilliant "Barretts of Wimpole Street" has Miss Shearer surpassed the stirring work she offers in her dual portrayals of the two girls. A fine array of featurct'fes complete an excellent programme. —"The Emperor's Candlesticks": Baroness Orczy— Lu'ise Rainer. of "Escapade," "The Great Ziegfeld," and "The Good Earth," will be back on the local screen on Friday. This time, her dramatic vehicle is Baroness Orczy's sparkling tale of intrigue, "The Em-

peror's Candlesticks." The part of the Countess Qlga Mironova, the fascinating secret service agent, completes a group of four impersonations of the most widely differing type. In "Escapade," Miss Rainer was a simple and piquant Viennese. In "The Great Ziegfeld" she expressed the mature grace of an experienced woman. Pearl Buck's Chinese saga displayed her as a primitive being, deeply linked with the growth of the soil. Could that, indeed, be the same Luise Rainer? She seemed to have subdued and hidden every aspect of her earlier self in this humble, almost silent character. Now, in "The Emperor's Candlesticks," she is once more a creature of glamour. But the Countess Mironova is a brittle, artificial woman, whose real feelings are seldom permitted to appear through the soci il varnish applied by reasons of State. So, for the fourth time, Miss Rainer has an entirely new aspect of her art to offer. Some people may consider that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have wasted a vivid actress on a superficial role. But, after "The Good Earth," it was probably considered that the public needed some strong antidote, lest Miss Rainer's admirers should begin to regard her as an exponent exclusively of the drab and the stormy aspects of life. At any rate, "The Emperor's Candleslicks" is superb of its kind. Monckfon Iloffe and Harold Goldman have shaped and embroidered the Orezy narrative into a fluent, screen play, which twinkles with verbal wit. Their efforts have fitted William Powell with a part that suits him to perfection. From the moment when Powell Ill's! appears, sinking into a luxurious bed while his man-servant pours him a stiff brandy, (he film never loses its air of droll, cynical elegance. Powell appears as the Baron Slephan Wolonsky, also a secret agent, and the Countess Mironova's'dangerous rival. Analysed in cold blood, the story of the race to Russia with the two candlesticks, each containing a message of life and death, is full of fantastic unlikelihood and coincidence. But Powell and Miss Rainer take advantage of that very fact to give a flavour of high , comedy to everything they do. The two agents treat each other with polished irony, no matter how desperate the stake which depends on each trivial act. Frank Morgan, is, as ; usual, intensely amusing as the chief of police; Henry Stephenson makes a polished Prince Johann; and Bernaclene Hayes skilfully suggests the agitation of the Countess' dishonest personal maid. George Fitzmauricc directed the production. On the musical side, there is an interesting use of leit-motives. As with the Wagnerian sword and Rhine gold, whenever the candlesticks are seen or referred to, an invisible orchestra bursts into a characteristic theme.