ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23795, 18 April 1939, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE “I’LL GIVE A MILLION” Staging a circus is no circus. It is a gargantuan test of craftsmanship—and the technicians who prepared a “big top” for Warner Baxter’s new romantic comedy. “I’ll Give a Million,” are willing to concede that the phrase “greatest show on earth” is no idle bit of persiflage. One entire sound stage at Twentieth Century-Fox was taken over by scores of workers who for days devised every phase of a big top, menagerie tent, side shows, merry-go-round, and the thousand other items which ranged from elephants to eyebrow pencils. Thousands of actors were used in the scenes—as patrons, freaks, attendants, musicians, candy butchers, balloon peddlers, and roustabouts. Lions, tigers, elephants, horses, monkeys, and all the stock needed by a good tent show had to be assembled. Acrobats, aerialists, wire-walkers, clowns, riders, and barkers were recruited for their roles. Six camera crews were used to catch every angle of the buzzing activity—and no authentic detail was spared. Back-stage, a school tent was erected so that the hundreds of children appearing in the picture could carry on their regular educational courses between scenes. The circus was created because the story of “I’ll Give a Million” is about a millionaire who leaves his wealth to become a tramp and enjoy life. Warner Baxter, in this role, meets Marjorie Weaver of the circus and a romance ensues which gives Miss Weaver the best role of her meteoric career. Specially selected supports will be screened during the first half of the programme. Box plans are at Beggs or State Theatre. Telehpone 645.

REGENT THEATRE THE “DEAD END” KIDS LAST DAY OF “CRIME SCHOOL” “Crime School,” a forthright drama relieved with many humorous interludes and presenting an interesting evening’s entertainment, is to be presented finally at the Regent Theatre today. The story starts in a New York slum with a gang of boys who have little to do'but get into mischief and so gradually progress from mere mischief to petty thieving and then to more serious robberies. The arm of the law soon reaches out for them, however, when a dealer, who has abetted them in their robberies, Is beaten by the gang and seriously injured. A sentence to the reformatory follows, and here graft and cruelty are the controlling forces. Under the brutal .treatment the lads become bitter and their one purpose is to-revenge themselves on the law. Far from being a reformatory, the place is a breeding ground for criminals. Then a new deputy-commissioner is appointed and he completely reverses his predecessor’s methods. At first the lads are suspicious, but they soon respond. Then gossip about the deputy’s attentions to the sister of one of the boys ' brings all the of the boys brings all the old mistrust to the surface and they break out of the school. The climax is full of drama and suspense, but the ending is a happy one. MAJESTIC THEATRE “SON OF THE SHEIK” RUDOLPH VALENTINO FILM

Probably the most romantic of all screen characters past and present is the late Rudolph Valentino. Some patrons were too young to have seen him, but everybody most certainly has heard of him. Beginning today at the Majestic Theatre is a film that will give patrons the opportunity to see him for the first time or to see him once more in his last and greatest screen triumph “Son of the Sheik,” the picturization of E. M. Hull’s famous book of the same title. The picture will be presented in its original form with the addition of modern sound synchronization. As far as the modern screen is concerned this will afford an innovation to many in that a comparison can be made between the past silent screen and the modern talkie picture. In “Son of the Sheik” Rudolph Valentino is seen in a dual role, the first a white desert sheik and the second as his son, a strong-willed, swashbuckling son of the desert. The romantic interest is provided by the silent-screen beauty and film favourite, Vilma Banky, who plays the part of a dancing slave girl with whom Valentino falls in love. She is kidnapped by a band of Moorish robbers and a most exciting story is enacted when Valentino rides recklessly over hot desert sands, avenges himself single-handed against the Moors and rescues his sweetheart and returns her in triumph to his desert kingdom. “Son of the Sheik” has proved probably the most sensational picture of recent years in that a tremendous amount of curiosity is naturally aroused by this reappearance of the silent screen’s most famous star.

The associate feature, “Expensive Husbands” stars Patrie Knowles, Beverly Roberts and Allwyn Joslyn. It is a satire on Hollywood. A famous screen actress (Beverley Roberts) marries a man (Patrie Knowles) for his famous name in order to create for herself further notoriety but she finds it a rather expensive bargain, as he places himself in the counterpart of a golddigger and makes her pay. “Expensive Husbands” is adequately described as a brilliant comedy and one which should satisfy the taste of any picturegoing audience. Universal’s latest news events, described by Graham McNamee, will introduce the programme. Intending patrons may reserve at H. and J. Smith’s department store box office, Rice’s Majestic Theatre confectionery shop or at the theatre. Telephone 730.

CIVIC THEATRE HALF-PRICE TONIGHT TWO ACTION SHOWS Jeeves, so sad-eyed, so gentle, so utterly, utterly proper, thought gangland to be a bit of all right They could swindle him, bamboozle him and buffet him about, but he insistes on proper manners, and so the underworld is in a deuce of a dither when P. G. Wodehouse’s famed “gentleman’s gentleman” goes berserk for a delightful period of gleeful buffoonery in “Step Lively Jeeves” featuring Arthur Treacher at the Civic tonight. Patricia Ellis and Robert Kent are Jeeves’s only friends in the strange America he is seeing for the first time as the unwitting dupe of Alan Dinehart and George Givot, a couple of swindlers trying hard to make a dishonest living. Fun and excitement no end attach to the earnest social-climbing efforts of Helen Flint, wife of a retired gangster, when she obtains for her society splurge the heir to the millions of Sir Francis Drake, the suddenly prominent “Earl of Bedford,” which is the bogus title the two “con” men have bestowed upon their unsuspecting friend. When Jeeves’s true identity is discovered

there breaks loose fireworks of an unsafe and insane nature, the hilarity of which is further heightened by Jeeves’s typical sober and sensible way out of all difficulties. George O’Brien, the screen’s foremost outdoor star appears in “Hollywood Cowboy.” He is cast as a happy-go-lucky cowboy’ with Cecilia Parker as his leading lady. Civic prices are 6d and 9d and plans are at Beggs or Civic Theatre. Telephone 1744.