The SCREEN and its STARS

Southland Times, Issue 22297, 12 April 1934, Page 12

The SCREEN and its STARS

(By

“Columbine”.)

THE REGENT

NOW SHOWING: “Secrets” (Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard, C. Aubrey Smith, Huntly Gordon, Bessie . Barriscale, Ethel Clayton, Theodore von Eltz, Ned Sparks). NEXT SATURDAY: “Facing the Music” (.Stanley Lupino. Jose Collins, Nancy brown, Lester Matthews, Nancy Burne, Hal Gordon). COMING ATTRACTIONS: S. S. Van Dine's “The Kennel Murder Case” (William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan, Jack La Rue).; “The Solitaire Man” (Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, Lionel Atwill. May Robson,’Elizabeth Allan); “The Girl From Maxims” (Leslie Henson, Frances Day, George Grossmith, Lady Tree. Stanley Holloway); “S.O.S. Iceberg" (Hod La Rocque, Leni, Riefenstahl. Gibson Gowland); “Blonde Bombshell” (Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy).

The timeless loveliness that is Mary Pickford will delight all those who enjoy pleasant romance in “Secrets” at the Regent. She will probably astound the young theatregoers who regard her suspiciously as a legend, and I believe that she is particularly fine in the dramatic Western sequences. Leslie Howard shares the love-story, trials and elopement, Ned Sparks is the stonyfaced Sunshine, and Allan Sears is the villain.

“Facing the Music,” a brilliantly conceived musical comedy, comes to the Regent on Saturday with Stanley Lupino in the leading role. In this film Jose Collins, the musical comedy star, makes her talkie debut as Madame Calvini, a famous prima donna, who for the sake of publicity, has her

jewels “stolen,” only to find that they are stolen in reality. Nancy Brown, who plays a temperamental prima donna and rival to Jose Collins, is a twenty-two years old Sydney girl, and her voice is heard to advantage. * » » » William Powell and Mary Astor, both Hollywood stars of long standing, will be seen together for the first time

in Warner Bros, picture, “Tire Kennel Murder Case,” which comes to the Regent soon, with Powell playing the role of S. S. Van Dine’s Philo Vance. The

picture is one of the most baffling mysteries of any of Van Dine’s stories, with a strange love tangle as the motivating theme of the plot. Others in the cast include Eugene Pallette, Helen Vinson, Jack La Rue and Henry O’Neill. Michael Curtiz directed.

THE CIVIC NOW SHOWING: "The Ghoul” (Gaumont British—Boris Karloff. Cedric Hardwicke. Dorothy Hyson. Anthony Busholl. Harold Huth). COMMENCING SATURDAY: “If I Were Free” (RKO Radio—Clive Brook, Irene Dunne, Nils Asther. Laura Hope Crews, Tempe Paggott). COMING ATTRACTIONS: "The Good Companions” (Gaumont British—Jessie Matthews. Edmund Givenn, John Gielgud, Mary Glynne. Frank Pettergell). "Hips Hips Hooray” (RKO Radio—Bert Wheeler. Robert Woolsey, Thelma Todd. Ruth Etting, Dorothy Lee); “I Was A Spy” (Gaumont British—Conrad Veidt, Madeline Carroll. Herbert Marshall, Gerald du Maurier. Edmund Gwenn, Donald Calthorp); "Soldiers of the King” (Gainsborough—Cicely Courtneidge, Edward Everett Horton, Anthony Bushell, Dorothy Hyson). » » » » “The Ghoul” at the Civic promises to be “something different” indeed. It is the story of a half-crazed Egyptologist who returns to earth after he is supposed to be dead. Boris Karloff, of course, plays this part, and the supporting cast includes Cedric Hardwicke, Dorothy Hyson, Ernest Thesiger and Anthony Bushell. » ♦ ♦ » “If I Were Free,” the film coming to the Civic on Saturday, is a gripping dramatization of the London stage hit, “Behold, We Live,” by John Van Druten. As a play “If I Were Free” enjoyed a highly successful run of six months, and American movie producers are said to have bid high for the screen rights. Van Druten’s story is a powerful drama of lives wrecked on the rocks of marital unhappiness, and the climax is bound up with Brook, seeing the futility of his life with Sarah Cazenore (Irene Dunne), with society arrayed against them, gambles his life on the operating table. The supporting cast includes Nils Asther, Henry Stephenson, Vivian Tobin and Laura Hope Crews. * • • »

There are good entertainments, there are splendid entertainments, and belonging to the latter class I think one maj' safely include “The Good Companions” coming to the Civic on April 21. During the pilgrimage that Jess Oakroyd makes, the amazing adventure of Miss Trant, the truancy of the schoolteacher, Inigo Jollifant, the queer shifts of the Dinky Doos, you are fascinated all the time. If you ever have a qualm it is when the wretched thought pops into your mind for a second—“ This must come to an end.” But you banish that, and away you go with Edmund Gwenn, Jessie Matthews, John Gielgud, Mary Glynne, and a host of other superb actors who so generously take you on one of the finest trips of your life.

To Visit New Zealand. Private advice has been received that Ramon Novarro is coming to New Zealand in a few months time on a concert tour. He will stay with friends at Hillgrove (near Palmerston). Ramon Novarro was born in February, 1899, at Durango, Mexico. He was originally intended to have a musical career, and has always been a great lover - of the opera. He speaks and reads several languages, and his extensive library includes classical works in English, French, Spanish and Italian. His real name is Ramon Samoniego, and he is the eldest of ten children, two of whom have become nuns. On the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution he went to America and became an actor in musical plays, until “discovered” by Rex Ingram for the screen and engaged for the part of Rupert in “The Prisoner of Zenda,” after which he starred in “Scaramouche,” “Where the Pavement Ends,” “The Arab,” “Ben Hur,” “The Student Prince,” and “Romance.” In November, 1928, it was

announced that he intended to retire from the screen and enter grand opera as a tenor, making his operatic debut at Berlin as the hero of “Tosca,” but this provision against possible failure in talking pictures has not been necessary, for he has since starred in “A Certain Young Man,” “The Flying Fleet,” “Devil May Care” and “The Singer of Seville.” (The last two were both talkies.”). Height sft 10in, with black hair and eyes.