ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23806, 2 May 1939, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE j “MY LUCKY STAR” When a personality such as Sonja Henie achieves overnight stardom with one picture—as she did less than two years ago with “Girl In a Million”— the temptation is strong on the part of ! Hollywood’s film makers to be satisfied ’ with merely repeating the picture for- ! mula which won such sensational I acclaim. This probably would have i worked out all right in Miss Henie’s ! case—except for Miss Henie herself. I Far from being satisfied with that first brilliant success, the miraculous skating star set about to surpass it in every way—and did—with “Thin Ice” and “Happy Landing.” And so it is easy to understand the enthusiasm with which “My Lucky Star” has been received in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. For one thing, “My Lucky Star,” which is showing daily at 2.0 and 8.0 at the State Theatre, presents her in an entirely new setting, far removed from Switzerland’s alpine peaks and Nor-, way’s remote peasant villages. A radiant modern girl, having a modern good time on a co-ed campus, wearing latest clothes, that is Miss Henie as you will see her now. Sharing star honours with her is Richard Greene, handsome young British actor who gave such a splendid account of himself in “Four Men and a Prayer,” while Joan Davis, Cesar Romero and Buddy Ebsen promise much in the way of comedy in their featured roles. The supporting cast includes Arthur Treacher, George Barbier, Louise Hovick, Billy Gilbert, Patricia Wilder and Paul Hurst. Box plans for this extended season special are at Begg’s or telephone State Theatre, No. 645.

REGENT THEATRE “DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES”

An unashamed spine-chiller in which Emlyn Williams, one of England’s playwright-actors, puts up a grand performance, effectively disproves the contention that it is necessary to spend a fortune to provide a real thriller. A small—but competent cast, comprising Emlyn Williams, Hugh Williams, Marius Goring, Christine Silver, Sara Seegar, each one by their performance in “Dead Men Tell No Tales” worthy to be ranked among the best characterizations seen in British films. The director—David Macdonald—a young Scotsman who is regarded as one of the year’s biggest director discoveries, has had considerable experience of American methods with Cecil de Mille. The story is taken from Francis Beeding’s “Norwich Victims” and involves three murders and one suicide, but an unusual note is introduced. Although the actual villain of the piece will probably be discovered quite early in the film, his name does not appear in the cast list—but is in the cast. You will vote “Dead Men Tell No Tales” a sound and ingenious spine-chiller made outstanding by the performances of the Williamses (Emlyn and Hugh) and "of Marius Goring.

lAN HAY’S “HOUSEMASTER” “YOUTH MARCHES ON” Considerable interest attaches to the screening of lan Hay’s “Housemaster” and the Oxford Group film “Youth Marches On” at the Regent Theatre tomorrow. “Housemaster” is a bright and breezy comedy with a sympathetic and human note underlying its humour. The action takes place almost entirely within the walls of a large English public school. Otto Kruger, as the housemaster, a dry-humoured bachelor devoted to the boys, has three devastatingly pretty wards descend upon the school. These three demure daughters of Eve, played by Diana Churchill, Rene Ray, and fifteen-year-old Rosamond Barnes, causa a sensation at the school and unwittingly help to incite a I revolution among the boys against the new head master’s drastic reforms. Phillips Holmes plays a shy young chemistry master who falls in love with Diana, and Walter Hudd and Michael Shepley are two other masters. P. Kynaston Reeves gives a grand performance as the sinister head master.

A film with an inspiration, “Youth Marches On,” is creating great interest and discussion, dealing as it does with some of the vital problems of the day.

CIVIC THEATRE HALF-PRICE TONIGHT TWO BIG FEATURES Dolores Del Rio, exotic star noted for her glamorous, Latin type of beauty, became an entirely new screen personality in her latest picture, “The Widow From Monte Carlo,” which is the first of the two pictures on tonight’s 6d programme at the Civic. An elaborate series of make-up changes made Miss Del Rio look smarter and more beautiful than ever before. She appears with her black hair parted on the side, rather than in the centre, for the first time since she has been in pictures. The change adds much to her allure. What little make-up Miss Del Rio used before, she has applied herself, because her skin and features are so perfect, and her dusky colouring photographs so well that it has never before been thought necessary to give her a special make-up. Studio experts on the Warner Bros.’ lot discovered that with amazingly little change, just a matter of hair and highlight, she can be made an entirely different, and more beautiful, actress. “The Widow From Monte Carlo” is a gay and hilarious romance based on the play by lan Hay and A. E. W. Mason. Besides Miss Del Rio, the cast includes Warren William, Louise Fazenda, Colin Clive, Herbert Mundin, Olin Howland and Warren Hymer. Warner Baxter and June Lang in the dramatic sensation, “White Hunter,” the second feature in which the following cast appears, Gail Patrick, Allison Skipworth, Wilfred Lawson and George Hassell. This 6d programme screens tonight and tomorrow only at the Civic.

MAJESTIC THEATRE “LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA” TODAY PAUL MUNI’S TRIUMPH A faultless performance by Paul Muni in the title role, a well-moulded story of absorbing interest and talented acting by the large supporting cast make “The Life of Emile Zola,” today at the Majestic, one of the finest productions of the screen industry to date. It is seldom that a picture is so completely satisfying as “Zola,” the dramatic value to which is given by Zola’s connection with the notorious Dreyfus scandal, which had France in a turmoil towards the end of the last century. It is easy to be enthusiastic about this picture. “The Story of Louis Pasteur” was as notable a production, and it will be remembered that Muni’s work in this won him the highest award there is for film actors in the United States of America. As Zola he is as convincing and impressive as he was as Pasteur, but in this film Muni has not merely given an outstanding performance; he has created a character. Al-

though the dramatic interest of the picture is in Zola’s championing of one who he believed was the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice, the picture is much more than an exposition, and the character remains the dominant feature. It shows his early days of poverty, his unswerving determination to say and write what he thinks is the truth, regardless of consequences detrimental to himself. The supporting programme, which is well up to the standard set by the principal attraction, includes a “Vitaphone Pictorial,” “World News Flashes” and “Crossing the Sahara,” a traveltone in technicolour. The box plans for the season will be found at H. and J. Smith’s, Majestic shop and the theatre (telephone 738).

REGENT, GORE .The attraction at the Regent Theatre, Gore, tonight is “Fast Company,” which stars Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice. There is also a good selection of shorts. ST. JAMES, GORE Brian Donlevy returns with his old partner, Victor McLaglan, in “We’re Going to Be Rich,” whic' opens at the St. James Theatre. Gore, today. But the feud this time assumes a different angle. McLaglan and Gracie Fields are co-starred in a story about a ne’er-do-well dreamer and his musichall songstress wife.