ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 22043, 16 June 1933, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

THE REGENT. i EDNA FERBER’S “THE EXPERT.” LITTLE DICKIE MOORE, CHIC SALE, LOIS WILSON. A comedy-drama with a clever mingling of hearty laughter and human interest, is to be presented at the Regent to-night when Chic Sale and little Dickie Moore will appear in “The Expert,” together with several other sterling artists, including Lois Wilson and Earle Foxe. The idiosyncracies and peculiarities of age and childhood could not have better interpreters than Chic Sale and Dickie Moore. Sale, in reality a young man without either whiskers or rheumatism, made one of the first short subjects for the talking screen when that medium was first finding its voice. He is splendid in “old man’’ parts. Dickie Moore is . one of the cleverest, if he is not entitled to rank as really the cleverest, of all screen children. He has been in several recent pictures, notably with Marlene Dietrich in ‘"Hie Blonde Venus, and always gives a splendid showing. “The Expert” has a strong human interest appeal which should register with all types of audiences. The story in the main deals with an old man’s trouble in adapting himself to the routine of a typical suburban home after spending his life amid the freedom of the less socially controlled existence in a quiet country centre. His wife having died, the father, accepts a home with a married son, but his labits grate on the nerves of the boy’s wife, a woman of precise methods and controlled by the essentials of conventionality in social and domestic activities. The old man tries his best to fit into the household smoothly, but without success, and finding his only cheerfulness in company with young Dickie. Edna Ferber, who wrote the story, has balanced it splendidly with . pathos, humorous detail and dramatic interest, and from all angles the film is one that will make a definite general impression as pleasing entertainment. THE MAJESTIC. LORETTA YOUNG IN “PLAY GIRL.” FAMOUS YOUNG ACTRESS AT HER BEST. “Play Girl,” the Warner Bros, and Vitaphone picture featuring Loretta Young as the business girl who thinks she can win financial security and a brilliant career without the responsibilities of motherhood or the bondage of love is attracting large audiences to the Majestic Theatre. It is a youthful devil-may-care chap, making his livelihood by gambling, who channges her outlook on life, and starts her out on the adventurous and thrilling course which is so movingly portrayed in “Play Girl.” The lover is played by Norman Foster, a recruit from the stage, whose interpretation makes the part memorable. The emotional intensity of the story is lightened by the clever comedy of Winnie Lightner, as the heroine’s pal and department store mate—and by Guy Kibbie as Winnie’s unappreciated wooer. The amazing understanding of the feminine point of view displayed in “Play Girl” is due to its feminine participants—Miss Young, Maude Fulton, who adapted the story, and Maurine Watkins, who wrote the story for the screen. Many of the scenes are in the thronging precincts of a huge department store. Ray Enright directed and mention should be made of the unusual photography by Gregg Toland. Others in the large cast are James Ellison, Edward Van Sloan, Dorothy Burgess, Polly Walters, Mae Madison, Noel Madison, Nat Pendleton and Flora Finch. The supports are excellent and an entertainment in themselves. MAJESTIC THEATRE. “THE SIGN OF THE CROSS.” COMMENCING SATURDAY. Dramatic in the extreme and packed with the spectacle of ancient Rome, “The Sign of the Cross,” which opens at the Majestic Theatre on Saturday afternoon, comes to Invercargill with a list of long seasons played in the cities of the north. The picture, which is almost twice as long as the ordinary film, presents a tale of faith battling aginst the brutality and magnificence of Rome in the days when she was losing her power. Christianity struggles in the byways and back streets of the great city, always fearful of oppression, yet never yielding in its desire for truth. The little band of believers who meet in secret places to proclaim their faith, their refusal to renounce it even when waiting for death in the arena, and their trust in one another, provide the basis of the story. Against all “the grandeur that was Rome,” its brilliance and debauchery, its viciousness and love of the brutal, the tale of Marcus Superbus, Prefect of Rome, and a Christian girl, Mercia, is unfolded. Marcus loves her, but to protect her from Nero’s edict that Christians shall < be exterminated he pleads with her that she shall publicly renounce her faith and be saved from death. Mercia, too, loves the man who has befriended her, but she cannot give up her faith. Marcus is inspired by her conviction, and in a dramatic finale passes out of the dungeon with her into the arena to death. Such is the outline of the story, but into it the producers have woven a breadth of spectacle that is amazing. The splendour of the court where a humanity portrayed and almost likeable Nero lives in god-like security, the bustling streets, the arena, and all its variety of death, are lavishly treated. It is difficult to describe the lavishness of the whole plan of production, the almost brutal starkness of some of the incidents, and the tale of sacrifice, of love, that proves stronger than life itself. The great finale, the scene in the Circus Maximus, when gladiators fight themselves to death in bloody combat, when Amazon women engage with Pyrenees dwarfs, and when sixty Christians are thrown to Nubian lions, provides a spectacle, shuddersomo in its sheer brutalitv. Frederic March is cast as Marcus, the Prefect, whose love for the beautiful Christian maiden, Mercia, provides one of the greatest tales of sacrifice known. Elissa Landi is ideally cast as Mercia, and in her portrayal of this simple and appealing character rises to exceptional heights. The cruel Nero is played by Charles Laughton, a character almost repulsive in its fanatical madness, but strangely intriguing to watch, while Claudette Colbert, as Nero’s wicked empress, gives an altogether striking performance. In addition to numerous secondary principals, there are 7500 others taking part. CIVIC THEATRE. “TIGER SHARK.” This afternoon and evening will see the last two screenings of Warner Bros, sensational drama of the sea “Tiger Shark” starring Edward G. Robinson. “Tiger Shark,” has everything—adventure, romance, powerful drama, comedy and the most sensational sea pictures that have yet been brought to the screen. Man-eating tiger sharks, elephantine tuna, killer whales and other man-eaters of the deep are seen in their native element. Whole schools of sharks are seen, murderous, light-ning-fast killers which devour everything in sight, including each other.” Not even his “Little Caesar’ or his

dynamic role in “Letters of Fire” brought out the superb acting talent of Edward G. Robinson, the star, as does his character of a Portuguese tuna boat captain in “Tiger Shark.” Robinson, who can be a hundred different persons merely by changing his facial expression, evidently found Captain Mike Mascarena a congenial role, for he has given it one of the finest interpretations any actor ever achieved. It is a new and better Robinson. “Tiger Shark,” aside from its thrilling and dangerous moments in the deep sea sequences, is one of the most intriguing stories of the screen year. It was adapted from “Tuna,” an original story by Houston Branch, and translated into screen terms by Wells Root. It is notable for the fact that the cast is really three persons—Robinson, Richard Arlen and Zita Johann. The supporting programme includes Universal News, “Red Headed Baby” cartoon, “Then Came the Yawn” comedy and a wonderfully interesting travelogue film “Berlin To-day.”

RUTH CHATTERTON TO-MORROW.

For one day only at both sessions, as the theatre is engaged on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Ruth Chatterton will be seen in her latest picture, “The Crash.” The hectic days of postwar stock gambling, the spectacular crash of the stock market, and the ruin of the idle rich who went down with it, are dramatically revealed in “The Crash,” starring Ruth Chatterton and George Brent (her husband in real life). The picture, presented with all the lavishness typical of a Ruth Chatterton starring vehicle, is based on the successful novel, “Children of Pleasure,” by Larry Barratto. Against this colourful background is vividly told the story of a young couple who have made a fortune in the market, only to lose it, like thousands of . others, in the debacle that ended a nation’s gambling for quick riches. Ruth Chatterton as the stockbroker’s wife, and George Brent, in the role of the rapidly-rising broker, carry the burden of the drama, which sweeps from the penthouses of Park Avenue to the tropical latitudes of Bermuda and back to the metropolis before the events that engulf the husband and wife finally run their course. Surrounding Ruth Chatterton and George Brent is an exceptionally able cast consisting of Hardie Albright, Henry Kolker, Ivan Simpson, Paul Cavanagh, Lois Wilson, Barbara Leonard, Richard Tucker, Helen Vinson, Edith Kingdon and Virginia Hammond. REGENT THEATRE, GORE. The Gore Regent Theatre has another attractive double feature profiramme for the week-end. Leo Carillo is starred with Vivienne Osborne and Una Merkel in “Men are Such Fools,” a story of tremendous emotions. It is the story of an unfaithful wife whose husband’s faith endured to the bitter end, but it shows that there is always a day of reckoning for such a woman. Love and thrills on the high seas are provided in “The Last Man,” featuring Charles Bickford and Constance Cummings. Audacious, powerful and bent on ferreting out the solution to a marine mystery of a most baffling order, Bickford interprets one of his most powerful roles. The stemming of large financial losses of a London insurance firm is the assignment of Detective Bannister and besides this stake he redeems the integrity of John Wingate, the head of a line of steamships, which has had a series of losses, and wins the love of Wingate’s beautiful daughter.

EMPIRE PICTURES, RIVERTON.

“THE GHOST TRAIN.” To-day and to-morrow the muchboomed and anticipated comedy thriller, “The Ghost Train,” will be the leading attraction at the Empire Theatre, Riverton. Eye-popping, teeth-chatter-ing, spine-tingling thrills, with a comedy kick, is condensed into the amazing talkie of “The Ghost Train.” Jack Hulbert, the eminent British actor, plays to perfection the role of the silly ass who pulls the communication cord and stops the train to retrieve his hat, thus causing the rest of the passengers to miss their London train at Fal Vale Junction. A terrific storm breaks, and they are forced to make a night of it in the little wayside station’s wait-ing-room, despite the strenuous efforts of the station-master to make them leave by telling them of the weird reputation which the place enjoys. As they prepare to make themselves comfortable, w'ith the storm howling outside, ’tilings begin to happen—strange visitors arrive, mysterious lights shine, and in some inexplicable manner the station telegraph instrument taps out the sinister message that twenty years previously caused the terrible railroad smash from which sprang the legend of “The Ghost Train!” “The Ghost Train” is entertainment of the type calculated to please all classes of the community.