ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23026, 21 October 1936, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE “THE VOICE OF BUGLE ANN” The name of the ever-popular Lionel Barrymore in any film is enough to vouch for its worth as entertainment, and in “The Voice of Bugle Ann,” which commences a season at the Majestic Theatre to-day, he is in excellent form in a role which allows him great dramatic scope. Some of the greatest screen successes of recent years have been notabb for the work done by Barrymore and, though in this instance the film in question is less pretentious than many, it is nevertheless a fine accomplishment and one fully worthy to rank alongside other Barrymore triumphs. Gay hunting scenes form the background to the plot, and in one remarkable section of the production a thrilling fox chase is closely followed by the camera for what must be one of the most graphic photographic feats yet made. The story calls for superb acting and even the masterly Barrymore is called upon for his best to keep it free from sentimentality. The title, “The Voice of Bugle Ann,” . becomes clear when it is known that Bugle Ann is a dog and virtually the centre of the piece in the early stages. Barrymore is Spring Davis, the owner of Bugle, and very attached to his pet until the animal is killed by a neighbour. To avenge the death of his dog, Davis takes the life of the man responsible for the act, and in a poignant court scene which follows, Barrymore’s genius is given free rein. COMING FRIDAY. “THE BOHEMIAN GIRL.” When Michael William Balfe, poetic Irishman, wrote the popular opera, “The Bohemian Girl,” nearly a century ago, little did he dream that it would one day be the basis of a comedy motion picture. The opus, as he conceived it, was a dramatic and sometimes morbid story concerning the adventures of a gipsy band, interspersed with ballads noted for their pathetic sentiment. Now come Laurel and Hardy, plenipotentiaries of fun, as stars of a new and hilarious version of the noted epic, a version dedicated to joy and laughter, but nevertheless “The Bohemian Girl.” Their full-length motion picture suggested by the Balfe opera begins a season at the Majestic Theatre next Friday and judging by the current interest in this advent, the screen version holds a greater interest than did any of the stage productions of the same title. The story differs considerably, however, to permit Laurel and Hardy to caper as is their wont, and to the great advantage of the play from an entertainment viewpoint. Likewise, the picture is notable for its paucity of incidental characters, such as cluttered up many of the stage versions of the early days. THE CIVIC DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME. “CHASING YESTERDAY” AND “HOORAY FOR LOVE.” Anne Shirley, the brilliant girl who was so triumphant in “Anne of Green Gables,” is starred in “Chasing Yesterday,” which begins a season at the Civic Theatre to-day, in conjunction with “Hooray for Love.” “Chasing Yesterday” takes its place at the top of the current output of picturizations of famous literary classics. This transmutation of a story by Anatole France retains its wholesome romance, friendship, drama and comedy. It comes as a rare balance of superlative acting and theme. Woven with laughter and pathos it results as glorious entertainment. In a tellingly convincing manner, “Chasing Yesterday” enacts its drama around the lives of a book collector and the orphan daughter of his first and only sweetheart. His search for “The Golden Legend,” the first book printed in England, brings them together; and thereafter their careers are closely knitted together to battle all obstacles and win happiness. The collector finds his reward in furthering the romance that has sprung up between the girl and a young student. The merits of “Chasing Yesterday” are almost legion. While Anne Shirley makes the heroine a forcefully vital figure, thrilling in all her dramatic moods and equally deft in fashioning smiles in the comedy scenes, O. P. Heggie and Helen Westley give faultless performances. An entirely new approach to the drama of theatre business is provided in a highly entertaining manner by RKO Radio’s “Hooray for Love,” with Anti Sothern and Gene Raymond, which is the other attraction at the Civic Theatre. The plot relates to a Broadway music show with novel story treatment. It is particularly pleasing to note that the musical revue is presented as it normally would be on a theatre stage, fantastic camera angles and trick photography being avoided. Maria Gambarelli, America’s prima ballerina, makes her screen debut. Her ballet presentation is strikingly beautiful. To see that greatest of all tap dancers, Bill Robinson, execute several flashing dances, is worth the price of admission in itself. Dancing with him is a talented young girl, Jeni Le Gon. The general excellence of the musical is increased by Ann Sothern’s singing of several hit songs. The plot is concerned with the difficulties met by Raymond in producing a Broadway show after he has been successful in presenting musicals in college.

STATE THEATRE

“TWO IN THE DARK” AND “BABOONA.”

Walter Abel, who did such remarkably fine work as D’Artagnan in “The Three Musketeers,” has the leading role. “Two In the Dark,” the murdermystery film now being shown at the State Theatre in conjunction with “Baboona,” a brilliant film of wild animal life. The plot is one in which every reader of mystery stories will rejoice. Briefly, the story concerns the efforts of a young man who finds himself suffering from loss of memory to prove himself guiltless of a murder which he has every appearance of having committed. Margot Grahame, in the role of a destitute show girl, is drawn, first by sympathy and then by love, to the amnesia victim (played by Abel), and she fights to extract him from the ominous web of ugly circumstances in which he has become involved. The more he learns about himself, however, the more tangled becomes the skein of evidence. Several people who have good motives for committing the crime are drawn into the net by the police, but the solution of the mystery is carefully concealed until the intensely dramatic final scenes. It is a good story, well directed, and the plot is particularly well thought out. In addition to Walter Abel and Margot Grahame in the main roles, that inimitable comedian, Eric Blore, appears as the valet of the murdered man, supported by Wallace Ford, Gail Patrick, Alan Hale, Leslie Fenton, Erin O’BrienMoore, and Erik Rhodes. The associate feature is “Baboona,” a remarkable film of wild animal life in the heart of the African jungles. This latest production of Mr and Mrs

Martin Johnson, the celebrated explorers, is far ahead of anything they have yet brought back from unexplored and savage lands, not only for authenticity and graphic detail, but for sheer suspense and excitement. This time the intrepid pair of explorers have made safari in Africa by air. Among the amazing sights in “Baboona” are a savage duel between a marauding leopard and a wart hog, the wild stampede of a vast horde of elephants, thousands strong, war between armies of giant baboons and battalions of fierce monkeys, the Johnsons’ plane landing in a river infested with crocodile killers, the attack of roaring, fearless lions on the cabin of a grounded plane and its human occupants. These and other thrilling and astonishing episodes have been, so far as is known, filmed for the first time in the history of the screen. REGENT THEATRE ZANE GREY’S “DRIFT FENCE” AND “F MAN.” >- TWO POPULAR PICTURES. Stirring drama, such as one has come to expect of a Zane Grey story, characterizes “Drift Fence,” the new Paramount action picture which heads the new two-feature programme at the Regent Theatre. It unfolds a colourful story of the days when desperadoes ruled the Arizona cattle lands, and refused to let big ranchers confine their herds within fences. “Drift Fence” is one of the most engrossing stories that has come from the pen of this wizard of Western tales. Adventure, romance, and humour are skilfully blended in this danger-bristling melodrama. Leading roles are enacted by Larry (“Buster”) Crabbe, Katherine de Mille, Tom Keene, Benny Baker, Glenn Erikson, Stanley Andrews, Richard Carle and Effie Ellsler. A “drift fence,” peculiar to the frontier days, was an enclosure used to thwart rustlers, by preventing cattle from passing into the wrong hands. In “Drift Fence,” Tom Keene plays a Texas ranger who takes the place of an eastern lad come to learn ranching, and starts to build a drift fence, knowing that the cattle rustlers will do all they can to prevent it. Complications get under way when the rustlers persuade a hard-fighting small rancher to side with them, since it is to his interests to have his cattle graze at large. Interwoven through the fast fight-it-out action is a romance between the ranger and the sister of the young rancher out to protect his grazing rights. Headed by Jack Haley and William Frawley, “F Man” is the .other star feature. “F Man” is a would-be “G Man,” trying to work his way up the alphabet from F to G; it’s the commission which William Frawley, a “G Man” with a habit of playing practical jokes, gives to Haley, small town sodajerker whose only ambition in life is to be on Uncle Sam’s staff of “G Men.” Haley takes his appointment seriously—so seriously that in trying to put over a specially brilliant piece of work by capturing Public Enemy No. 1 singlehanded, he not only upsets the careful plans of the “G Men” for the thug’s capture, but also succeeds in slipping some very effective knock-out drops into a malted milk being drunk by the Chief of the Department of Justice! Life is very complicated for “F Man” Haley, but just when things look darkest, the breaks start coming his way, and he manages, in a series of ribtickling situations, to turn the tables on Public Enemy No. 1 and his gang, winning a reward which will permit him to open the newest, most modern soda-fountain in his home town, and give up all ideas of being a “G Man.” Under the able direction of Edward F. Cline, Haley and Frawley have turned in a screamingly funny, exciting comedy. MAE WEST ON SATURDAY. “KLONDIKE ANNIE.” The inimitable humour for which Mae West is famous is one of the most attractive features of her latest film. “Klondike Annie,” which is coming on Saturday to the Regent Theatre. In the part of an entertainer in a Chinese gambling establishment on the notorious “Barbary Coast” of San Francisco, Mae West is given wide scope for the introduction of her dramatic talents, and her handling of the romantic interest with Victor McLaglen, who takes the part of a bullying sailor, is particularly good. Among the excellent supports on this programme will be anothei’ of _ the illuminating “March of Time” series. THE EMPIRE, RIVERTON The person who thrills at the sound of the fire engine siren, who never misses a blaze for miles around, who gives chase the moment a siren screeches, will be delighted with “Grand Exit,” to be screened at Riverton tonight. Edmund Lowe is a new kind of detective and his methods are both enlightening and dramatic, but he finds time also to be amusing, racing from car to bar and from gaol to bail. Jack Lovelock will also be seen breaking the Olympic record.