ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 19823, 20 March 1926, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS

CIVIC PICTURES. “WAGES FOR. WIVES’’ AND BEBE „ DANIELS IN “THE MANICURE GIRL. : Bebe Daniels’ latest, “The Manicure Girl," , is first, last and foremost a comedy. Ab Maria Maretti, Bebe is by far the most • popular manicurist in the beauty shop of the fashionable Curzon Hotel. One of her regular customers and most persistent admirers is James Morgan, played by Hale Hamilton. Maria has a falling out with Tony Luca (Edmund Burns), her fiance, 1 when Morgan sends a gift of .flowers to her home. Accompanying the present is a ten-dollar bill for theatre tickets, because Maria had told Morgan that, she liked a good show more than anything else. The actual break comes that night when Tony and Maria go to a show after lony has ordered her to return the money, saying he can buy all the theatre tickets she’ll need. It is pouring rain when they come out. Rather than get a taxi, Tony goes after an umbrella, leaving Bebe standing m the rain. He no sooner returns than a gust of wind carries his hat merrily down the street. After it he goes, and this time when he returns, there’s no Bebe. Morgan had happened by in his limousine and though the girl had asked him to wait for Tony, a traffic officer messed up things a bit by ordering them on. So it is we find Tony and Maria at sword points when she returns after supper with the millionaire at one of the city’s many night clubs. The engagement ring is returned, and things look black in general, only to be straightened out by a queer twist of events in the last few scenes which bring Bebe and Morgan’s wife together. There are many other points of appeal in “The Manicure Girl,” too, but it’s the delightful comedy that counts. There are many more good wholffiome laughs packed into the Fox pic-’ ture, “Wages for Wives/’ and its theme which has to do with a fair division of &e family bankroll, gives it an unusually broad appeal. The scene is laid in a typical small town, where Jim Bailey, a typical middle-aged husband, doles out to his helpmate on pay-day just what he thinks she

should have and spends the remainder as he sees fit. The wife, one of those meek little souls, accepts her lot with a sigh, but her daughter (Jacqueline Logan), just become a bride, considers such a system all wrong, and makes no bones about saying so. She also makes it clear that she will insist on a better break in her own home and agitates a strike in which three husbands .are left to look out for themselves. The results may be imagined by any wife who has over left her husband to keep bachelor hall for even a few days. Creighton Hale, as the young husband, while outwardly pretending to be in sympathy with the •husbands’ cause, secretly yearns* to end the strike, and two of the wives soon weary of the experiment. Jacqueline Lbgan, as the bride, however, remains adamant until old Mr Trevis (Dan Mason), the village station agent, takes it upon himself to act ns arbiter. Supporting Miss Logan and Mr Hale is an admirable cast, including Claude Gillingwater, David Butler, as the wisecracker ol the village, Zasu Pitts sis the wife who struck because she was dragged into it, Earle Foxe, Margaret Livingstone, Margaret Seddon and Dan -Mason. This programme, which will be found most enjoyable, also features “The Riddle Rider” and a topical film showing a series of views of Christchurch. The matinee programme will also include two comedia l ’. Seats for to-night may be reserved at the Bristol or by ringing No. 380. ALBION THEATRE. JOHNNY HINES IN “THE SPEED SPOOK,” AND LIONEL BARRYMORE IN “THE MAN OF IRON.” The epitome of action, the personification of pep, the incarnation of humour and the dynamo of thrilldom—that in toto is as exact a description of the volcanic Johnny Hines as is possible to obtain. And in “The Speed Spook,” the latest thriller featuring this comedian, he steps right out and gives the screen an outstanding performance. This Hines person is an individual to conjure with, for his ebullience and his rip, tear and fight attitude, coupled with the sound philosophy of fun which he characterises to a nicety, makes him one of the outstanding types of the screen. Johnny

Hines has more than native intelligence, for the simple reason that he is able to probe just a bit farther in the realm of human sensitiveness than the average comics of the screen. He seems to know what the public wants, and in this respect he has been sensible enough to give the nubile that sort of screen fare that only Douglas Fairbanks has had the wisdom previously to follow. Hines is by all means a character—an individual sort of screen star who takes all sorts of daredevil chances to furnish movie patrons with a thrill, a laugh and perhaps a tear. That is an unbeatable combination, and Hines commandeers these elements beautifully in “The Speed Spook.” In “A Man of Iron,” the second star feature of this programme at the Albion, Barrymore has one of the finest vehicles of his distinguished career. Tn the role of Philip Durban, the Iron Master, he creates a role that for strength and clear-cut characterisation stands out prominently among the finest of all screen interpretations. Barrymore, on the screen, is the same genius that he is in the spoken drama, and each new production further strengthens his hold on his enviable position at the top rung of the ladder of motion picture fame. The story deala with the domestic struggle of Philip Durban, whose wife shuns him from the day of her marriage because of her infatuation for a foreign nobleman. The development of the story, which ia smooth and rapid, provides a series of tense dramatic episodes that will hold your attention until the very end of the picture. Lionel Barrymore, though dominating the picture by the force of his unusual personality, shares the acting honours with an excellent cast. Mildred Harris, who has been starred in many productions, is lovely as well as convincing in the role of Martha Durban, who plays her part with splendid restraint. The supports include a “Spat Family” comedy, entitled “Bottle Babies,” a Pathe Gazette, and the Albion “Select” Orchestra. Plans at Bristol, or ’phone 738. Day sales at Rice’s (next to theatre). Prices the same as usual.