ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23376, 7 December 1937, Page 5

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE “HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME” Arresting and spectacular melodrama adds particular vividness to Paramount’s colourful production, “High, Wide and Handsome,” showing finally today at the Regent Theatre. This film shows Irene Dunne from still another refreshing angle, and reveals Randolph Scott in a performance of strength and virility. The picture has been frankly developed as entertainment in the broad and picturesque sense. In this it has the advantage of a well-conceived narrative with a sprinkling of historical fact. Paramount has put into it the best talent available for this particular type of film. The result is a fine production, which begins as a romantic love story, but suddenly develops into a gripping melodrama, so exciting that suspense is not only well sustained, even in its quieter moments, but is almost breathless on many occasions. It has all been done with such gusto and frankness that there is keen enjoyment even in the ultra-melodramatic climax which reaches an unusual degree of tension, not without its hilarious aspect. No Wild West tale ever held a more thrilling finish. It is spectacle wonderfully done, and with a precision that reveals the genius of its producer, Rouben Mamoulian, for this kind of thing, Irene Dunne acts and sings with her usual vivacity and charm, adding to the colour of the production with a sturdy interpretation of a medicine showman’s daughter who marries into Pennsylvania’s aristocracy. As Peter Cortland, Randolph Scott gives perhaps the best performance of his career. He has a part which requires definite characterization, and he makes the most of it.

CIVIC THEATRE

LAUGHTER AND DRAMA JAMES DUNN—MONA BARRIE A comedy picture about four swindlers who find rough going in a small town, Fox Films’ “Welcome Home, is now at the Civic Theatre with James Dunn, Arline Judge, Raymond Walburn and William Frawley heading the cast. The story is about Dunn, a boy who brings his light-fingered friends to his home town and decides to reform. But habit proves too strong for this quartette of charming scoundrels, and before they know what they are doing they are “taking down” the local citizens. There are romantic complications for Dunn, hairbreadth escapes for his friends. A hilarious climax solves all their troubles. B. G. DeSylva produced “Welcome Home,” which was directed by James Tinling and on the same programme is a more serious picture. Because of their unusual success in “Mystery Woman,” Mona Barrie and Gilbert Roland are again brought together in a Fox Film picture. They are co-featured in “Ladies Love Danger,” the mystery comedy dealing with multiple murders, in a back-stage and pent-house background. It is a comedy mystery in which comedy follows thrill and the comedian, Herbert Mundin, almost steals the picture. Critics have proclaimed it as a very clever film built on the same plane as the principal’s former success, “Mystery Woman.”

STATE THEATRE

“OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT” “BEHIND THE HEADLINES” Action, thrills, adventure and romance, with blazing gun duels in the most turbulent era of the California gold fields, when every man wore his own law at his hip, a romance blossoming on the pine-clad slopes of the Sierras, a woman’s jealousy that wrecked two lives, the birth of the Vigilante movement to bring law and order into the “diggings,” a man’s sacrifice for the happiness of the woman he loved—these are among the features of RKO Radio’s dramatic romance, “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” which is now showing at the State Theatre. Based on the world-famous story by Bret Harte, the film has its setting in the Mother Lode region from 1850 to 1860, at the period when news of the vast riches in California brought swarms of adventurers from every country on the globe. Wild and unchecked in their earlier days, the mining camps turned into civilized communities as militant clergymen, fearless teachers and the more far-seeing element in the camps

combined to eradicate lawlessness and hang the desperadoes or drive them into exile. Preston Foster and Jean Muir head the cast of this production by Robert Sisk, with Van Heflin, little Virginia Weidler, Margaret Irving, Monte Blue and other well-known players in important roles. The second feature, “Behind the Headlines” is a high-speed drama of daring men and women of the newspapers who make and search for sensational news, regardless of consequences. A large cast is headed by Lee Tracy and Diana Gibson.

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“KEEP YOUR SEATS PLEASE” Concluding a most successful season at the Majestic Theatre, the hilarious comedy “Keep Your Seats Please” will be screened finally this afternoon and tonight. In this film George Formby is seen as George Withers, who makes a sustained search for one of a set of chairs which holds a fortune. Unfortunately for George, the chairs have been auctioned to separate purchasers—thus, he spends his whole time looking for a particular chair. He has a rascally partner, and, further, is persecuted by an unscruplous lawyer—also seeking the chair. Among the laugh-provoking incidents are those of George taking “crooner” lessons from a prima donna, with the misunderstanding husband adding to the fun, and the scene in .a doctor’s office with George’s frantic efforts to escape the nurse who wants to undress him. On the same programme is “Crimson Romance,” a thrilling drama of the air, the theme of which is to prove the futility of war. In the principal roles are Ben Lyon, Sari Maritza and Erich von Stroheim. “CRAIG’S MTFE” FINE, DRAMATIC FILM In bold, unflinching strokes, Columbia Pictures has painted on the screen the story of Harriet Craig, one of the most fascinating characters of modern literature or drama. When “Craig's Wife” was first shown, as a Broadway play, it was enthusiastically received and ended its long run by winning the famous American Pulitzer Prize. The film begins a season at the Majestic Theatre tomorrow. Rosalind Russell, who up to now has appeared only as a comedienne, and a charming one, plays the highly dramatic title role. Film audiences have known Miss Russell since the middle of 1935, when she made her first screen appearance in the comedy success, “No More Ladies.” She has subsequently been seen in light roles in “Forsaking All Others,” “China Seas,” “Rendezvous, “It Had to Happen,” and “Under Two Flags.” Craig, the abused husband,_ is portrayed by John Boles with unfailing skill. He shows, in one of his finest i’oles to date, exactly what it means to be the husband of Harriet Craig. Harriet Craig’s marriage was a means towards an end. She married Walter Craig because he could give her what she had carefully planned for all her life—absolute independence. Her home is her symbol; it represents to her the one definite thing she has acquired, and she guards it with vicious intensity. An imposing supporting cast aids materially in the, enactment of this sensitive and moving story. Billie Burke, Jane Darwell, Dorothy Wilson, Alma Kruger, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Walburn, Robert Allen, Elisabeth Risdon, Nydia Westman and Kathleen Burke contribute fine performances.