AMUSEMENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19900, 30 March 1939, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE LAST DAV: “Till: AWFUL TRUTH" AND “THIS MARRIAGE BUSINESS" The sparkling comedy programme concluding to-night. consists of Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, in a revival of “The Awful Truth" and Victor Moore, Cecil Koliaway and Vici J-ester in “This Marriage Business." —To-morrow: Lew Ayres in “Spring Madness" ami Joe l'enner in "The Life of (lie Party"— | Following i'p his triumph in “Young | Doctor Kildare," Lew Ayres is pro- ; seated by Metfo-Goldwyn-Mayer in | the delightful comedy - romance j "Spring Madness," which heads ar, | outstanding double bill to-morrow. ! Maureen O'Sullivan oilers a warm j -,ludy of the student at a New England I girls’ school in love with the Harvard ! boy, played with expertness by Lew ; Ayres. Burgess Meredith scores a.-. I the latter's classmate and adviser, and others in a well-balanced cast include I Ruth Hussey, Ann Morriss and Joyce 'Compton. The story reveals the plight jof the Harvard student editor who i has become engaged to the New Eng- | land schoolgirl without much planning j for their future. Realising the fallacy I of the economic theory that two can ! live as cheaply as one, he bravely j calls of! the engagement and she as ! bravely accepts it. Their friends j enter into the romance, however, dcI iermined to help somehow and the j complications that develop form a ! highly entertaining picture. "Spring ! Madness" is gay. amusing and as modern as the Lambeth Walk. An all-star high-speed modern romance around which is built one of the gayest screen musical comedies oJ' the season is "The Life of (he Party,” the associate feature. Gene Raymond and Harriet Hilliard, the screen’s newest romantic team, supply the heart interest, and Joe Penner, Parkyakarkus. Helen Broderick and Victor Moore, four of the top comedians of pictures to-day, furnish most of the hilarity. "The Life of llhe Party" concerns the romance between Raymond and Miss Hilliard —a romance which follows a rocky and uproarious path interspersed with six tuneful "hits" and three spectacular dance numbers, Raymond, heir to a fortune which he loses if he marries before he is JO, falls in love with Harriet Hilliaro, struggling young singer whose mother wants her to marry another rich man. When her mother forces Joe Penner m her. Harriet pretends she is marked to Raymond. Then all concerned , lirow monkey wrenches into thewheels of romance, with hilarious results, The musical features are well emphasised by Miss Hilliard in four vocal numbers, with Raymond joining her in two of them; and another is sung by Penner while the sixth forms a background for a spectacular dance feature. The sessions will open with a further chapter of "Red Barry.’ There will be a Popcye matinee on Saturday afternoon at 1.45 o'clock. OPERA HOUSE “NIGHT MUST FALL": TO-NIGHT The Gisborne Repertory Society has chosen a famous play, “Night Must Fall.” tor presentation in the Opera House this evening. This thriller opens with the Chief Justice dismissing the appeal against the sentence of death on a callous murderer who stands convicted of two brutal crimes. The story then goes back and deals with the events that lead up to the prologue, The play is set in a lonely cottage where Mrs. Bramson, a shrewish old hypochondriac, lives with her niece, Olivia Grayne. The police are looking for a Mrs. dial font, who is missing from the Tallboys Hotel. An Irish bellboy, Dan, whom Olivia cannot fathom, arrives to stay. Why is he always acting to Mrs. Bramson? What is he always thinking of? What inis he got in the locked hat-box'/ Gradually the developments range themselves side by side as the plot unfolds until this glib Irish boy stands unmasked as a ruthless, cold-blooded murderer. For sheer dramatic intensity, several of the scenes in this play have seldom been equalled. With the competent cast chosen, an outstanding success is assured for to-night.