ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23648, 25 October 1938, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE “100 MEN AND A GIRL” Because of the great /number of requests “100 Men and a Girl” featuring Deanna Durbin will begin a return season at the Majestic today, Tuesday. Deanna Durbin is probably the most popular of all screen artists today. She has earned this popularity through her delightful freshness of manner, her charming voice and unquestionable ability as an actress. “100 Men and a Girl” is produced by New Universal from whose studio came Miss Durbin’s first picture, “Three Smart Girls.” It is a type of entertainment that will appeal to any audience and concerns the efforts of a girl played by Deanna Durbin, and her father, Adolphe Menjou, to obtain work for 100 unemployed musicians. The girl’s efforts bring her into contact with the leader of an orchestra which provides a role for the world-famous musical conductor, Leopold Stokowski, who introduces his Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra in Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” Tschaikovski’s Fifth Symphony, Second Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt, Mozart’s “Exultate Jubilate” and Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Thus the picture opens a field which had not previously been considered suitable for screen audiences. Deanna Durbin’s songs include “It’s Raining Sunbeams,” “Music in My Dreams,” “Allelujah” (Mozart) and the “Drinking Song from Traviata” (Verdi). Deanna Durbin’s performance in this picture is every bit as good as her initial performance in “Three Smart Girls,” and shows her versatility in doing something entirely different from her first picture. This proves her right to be considered one of the most important players, of today. A selected programme of featurettes will support “100 Men and a Girl” including one of the popular “March of Time” series, latest Universal Graham McNamee newsreel and an all-colour musical featurette, “Educated Fish.” Plans are now on view at the theatre. Telephone I 738.

STATE THEATRE

MARLENE DIETRICH COMEDY “ANGEL” TODAY Marlene Dietrich’s gay comedy “Angel” will begin its Invercargill season at the State Theatre at 2 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. today. “Angel” brings to the screen a new director-star combination for which the public has been waiting for a long time. The delicate, ethereal beauty of Marlene Dietrich and the light, whimsical directorial touch of Ernst Lubitsch make a compound that brings out a high variety of film entertainment. The production is handsome and lavish, the acting of Miss Dietrich, Herbert Marshall and Melvyn Douglas all that anyone could ask, and the work of the supporting cast is splendid. Herbert Marshall plays the part of an absorbed diplomat, who gives all his time and attention to political problems to the exclusion of his wife, Marlene Dietrich, who resents his lack of attention to her. She finally leaves; her home to make a quiet trip to Paris, in search of some adventure to relieve the drabness of her usual life. In Paris she meets Melvyn Douglas and the two fall in love. A strange quirk of fate enters into the subsequent events and the problem is solved in a dramatic climax, The work of a fine cast numbering Ernest Cossart, Edward Everett Horton, Laura Hope Crews, Herbert Mundin and Ivan Lebedeff puts the finishing touch on a fine and satisfying piece of entertainment. Excellent featurettes include “From the Minuet to the Big Apple,” an item which will be of special interest to all dancers. Plans are at Begg’s or State Theatre, telephone 645.

REGENT THEATRE

“A YANK AT OXFORD” ROBERT TAYLOR IS POPULAR The most popular show in town today is “ A Yank at Oxford” which is packing- the Regent. This is the first British-made film from Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer. Robert Taylor went to England to make it, and with him were Lionel Barrymore, veteran star of the theatre and the screen, and Maureen O’Sullivan, the lovely Irish colleen of Hollywood. Jack Conway was there to direct the picture and assembled a brilliant cast of supporting British stars— Vivien Leigh, Edmund Gwenn, Griffith Jones ana others. “A Yank at Oxford” presents Bob Taylor in his most characteristic role—a star athlete from a small mid-western American college —a freshwater college, if you please—who wins a scholarship to Oxford and there meets the girl of all girls. By filming the picture on the actual scene, M.-G.-M. has given us the first authentic screen insight into life at Oxford. We see the world-famous - OxfordCambridge track meet and the shell races on the Thames—the peculiar hazing rituals of the upper classmen—and we watch Robert Taylor develop from an inexperienced Yankee lad to an athletic hero. It is Taylor’s best role, according to alLthe preview cities. London saw the picture first, of course, and raved about it. When you watch “A Yank at Oxford” on the screen you will be observing the newest experiment of Hollywood, on an international scale. M.-G.-M. established its own studios, equipped them with the latest modern devices and sent its leading stars across the Atlantic to play the leading roles. Nothing of the sort had ever been attempted previously. Remember, “A Yank at Oxford,” starring Robert Taylor. with Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O’Sullivan, Vivien Leigh, Edmund Gwenn and Griffith Jones, will be shown again tonight. The “shorts” include specials headed by the Gang Kiddies in “Three Men in a Tub,” and a Robert Benchley laughgetter “Music M;.de Simple” and the very latest in newsreels dealing with the European crisis.

CIVIC THEATRE

TWO GRAND COMEDIES OPENING TONIGHT Two comedy features form the programme which opens tonight at the Civic Theatre. The first of these is “Lady Tubbs,” a hilarious farce which relates the adventures of a washerwoman, who comes into a fortune and attempts to break into exclusive “society.” The lady’s blunt disregard for convention and her ludicrous attempts to be natural in unaccustomed surroundings. make her a sensation in her new setting, while providing immensely amusing entertainment for the audience. The title role is taken by Alice Brady, who extracts from the part every ounce of humour. The cast also includes Alan Mowbray, Anita Louise and Douglass Montgomery. You have seen films that have as their theme the activities of a high-class boxer who falls from the top rung of success when his head starts to turn, and his conceit takes the upper hand. In “Two-Fisted Gentleman,” this type of theme has been much more effectively treated, making for entertainment that will find an appreciative audience. The film moves along at a pace that is fast and well timed, the various incidents popping up at the most appropriate moments, and in the most delightful manner. The star is James Dunn, who has a role that suits him admirably, and is supported by a very capable cast including June Clayworth, Thurston Hall, George McKay and Gene Morgan.

ST. JAMES THEATRE, GORE

Merle Oberon’s admirers will have the thrill of seeing the beautiful star revealed in all her true beauty for the first time when Alexander Korda’s technicolour comedy, “The Divorce of Lady X,” makes its bow at the St. James, Gore, today, for a two-day engagement. Besides Merle Oberon’s technicolour debut, the film also marks her first comedy role after a . series of exotic and tragic characterizations.

REGENT THEATRE, GORE

The outstanding cinematic achievement of 1935 was Metro-Goldwyn-'Mayer’s production, “The Thin Man, which, wherever screened, was acclaimed by enthusiastic cinema patrons as an ideal vehicle for the sauve sophistication of the William Powell-Myrna Loy combination. It is considered in some quarters that their subsequent appearances together have in no way approached for versatility their success in their initial venture. “The Thin Man” begins at the Regent Theatre, Gore, today.