ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 22009, 8 May 1933, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

THE REGENT. “THREE LIVE GHOSTS.” BRILLIANT COMEDY HIT REVIVED. Wheri that famous Broadway hit, “Three Live Ghosts” was shown here many months ago packed houses acclaimed it one of the finest comedydramas ever produced; hence it occasioned little surprise to find in the large audience at the Regent on Saturday night (when the picture was again screened) many patrons who had so thoroughly enjoyed its first filming long ago. “Three Live Ghosts is essentially a comedy, but, mingled with brilliantly humorous situations, are the elements of pathos, tragedy and romance, so that the whole becomes screen entertainment of the highest order. Beryl Mercer takes the role of Mrs Gubbins, stepmother to “Jimmie,” who is one of the “ghosts” and she portrays the grasping, lovable and comic Cockney to perfection. Peggy Woofers, Jimmie’s sweetheart, is depicted by Hilda Vaughan, while the other two “ghosts”—William Foster (an American wanted by the Police), and “Spoofy” (an English “gentleman” who has lost his mental faculties owing to shellshock) —are respectively Robert Montgomery and Claud Allister. The latter’s comedy work is excellent and his character study of “Spoofy” is wholly delightful. The story revolves around three British soldiers who escape from a German prison camp and return to their former haunts in London only to discover that they are legally dead in the eyes of the Government and their friends. The whole of the scene is set in the Empire’s metropolis immediately after the cessation of hostilities in the Great War, and the director, with a masterly bit of craftsmanship, vividly re-enacts the stir and thrill of a nation on Armistice Day. Between drinks, Mrs Gubbins implores Jimmie to remain dead until after she has collected the final instalment of his war insurance, and, subsequently dazzled by the reward offered for the American, she seeks to bring about his arrest. Follow some delightful scenes and the merry chase the trio lead the detectives as one and then another of the three steps on the toes of the law has the audience shrieking with merriment. The supporting programme is uniformly good. The whole show will be repeated at this afternoon’s matinee and again to-night for the last tune. THE MAJESTIC. UNITED ARTISTS’ TRIUMPH. RONALD COLMAN IN “CYNARA.” Girls should go to the Majestic to see “Cynara” and realize the danger of becoming clinging vines. Husbands should go to the Majestic to see “Cynara” and learn the folly of an affair with a susceptible single woman. Wives should go to the Majestic to see “Cynara” and learn to be forgiving. Everyone in Invercargill should go to the Majestic to see “Cynara” because it is an absorbing phsycological drama superbly interpreted by a United Artists cast headed by Ronald Colman and Kay Francis. There have been a good number of comedies —excellent comedies — at the Majestic in the last few weeks and this straight play comes as an agreeable contrast. Incidentally it is the first of the United Artists cinema entertainments for 1933, as women will realize when they see the very latest creations in fashion adorning the actresses. The story concerns a rising London barrister, very much in love with his beautiful wife, who during her absence in Venice is led by a gay old bachelor friend to indulge in a night’s mild flirtation. But against his wishes' he finds himself carried further and further into the tangled web of intrigue. Brought almost to the brink of disaster he is prepared to bid farewell to his friends, to his career, and to his wife whom he still reverences. But she proves herself a woman in a thousand. It is intensely interesting drama, but there are some delightful touches of comedy and some magnificent photography. Outstanding in the supports is the first of the new brilliantly coloured cartoons. It is called “King Neptune” and the ingenuity with which all denizens of the deep are made to wage war with pirates is amazing. There is also a very pretty coloured film “Storyland” with tiny tots as the players; a Burns and Allen comedy and an Australian Gazette. CIVIC THEATRE. “TWO AGAINST THE WORLD.” . Constance Bennett in “Two Against the World” will be shown again tonight and tc-morrow night in the Civic Theatre. The story is a brilliant drama of high soc iety with a dynamic courtroom scene, in which a beautiful society girl confesses to sins of which she is not guilty. She drags her honour in the dust, in order to save her brother from the electric chair and her married sister from a scandal. There is an unusually strong cast with Miss Bennett supported by Neil Hamilton, who although he is in love with her, is forced to prosecute her brother on a murder charge, and compelled to listen to the story of her dishonour from her own lips. The picture is taken from the popular novel by Marion Dix and Jerry Horwin and deals with a rich and proud family whose name is dragged through the mire of a scandalous criminal court battle. Miss Bennett is particularly charming, as a society miss full of mischief and devil-may-care daring, but such a good sport that she shoulders the disgrace of the family at the expense of her own honour. The background and settings are particularly lavish, representing wealthy homes, magnificently furnished apartments of wealthy clubmen and country estates of the elite social set. There is a wealth of beautiful gowns, Miss Bennett herself having twentytwo complete changes. Archie Mayo directed. RUTH CHATTERTON.

“FRISCO JENNY.”

Ruth Chatterton comes to the Civic Theatre on Wednesday in the First National picture, “Frisco Jenny,” in which she has a typical “Diamond Lil” role. The polished and dignified actress turns entirely away from her recent society roles in her latest starring vehicle, and revertS to a character part similar to those in which she made some of her early and most outstanding successes, such as “Madame X” and “Sarah and Son.” In “Frisco Jenny” she appears as the Queen of the Demi-monde, who rules her kingdom with an iron hand, a woman hard and unscrupulous, yet with an underlying tenderness and so unsurpassable a love for her only son, that she goes to the gallows with sealed lips rather than acquaint him with his mother’s shame. “Frisco Jenny” is a stirring and glamorous tale of the old Barbary Coast of San Francisco, with its temples of pleasure, its gilded dives and gambling dens which formed the background for the wild orgies of the young bloods of the city a quarter of a century ago. Miss Chatterton is supported by an exceptionally strong cast which includes Donald Cook, James Murray, Louis Calhern, Hallam Cooley, Pat O’Malley, Robert Warwick, Harold Huber Helen Jerome Eddy, Frank McGlynn, sen., J. Carroll Naish. Noel Francis and Robert Emmet O’Connor. The picture, which covers the period

of the great earthquake and the years following, is filled with thrills, including the quake itself and the fire that followed, a dramatic court scene in which Miss Chatterton is branded by her own son and orgies in the gc' dives.