ENTERTAINMENTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 25, Issue 3759, 22 May 1936, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

EMPIRE THEATRE. COMMENCING TO-NIGHT. “ EAST OF JAVA.” Teaching a talking minah bird, native of East Africa, to speak for a role in Universal’s thrilling sea and jungle drama, “ East of Java,” starring Jack Bickford, was one of the hardest jobs ever faced by motion picture technicians. The bird, featured in the production, which comes this week-end to the Empire Theatre, was taught to say “ Ramsbottom, ’e’s an ass,” in three weeks by Harry Grundstrom, a member of the property department. Grundstrom took the bird into his home and worked with him hours every day to get him to say the words. AT THE REGENT. AGAIN TO-NIGHT. “ WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND.” Jim Thorpe, Carlisle Indian, one of the world’s greatest athletes, is one screen actor who can be typed. Thorpe, who appears in the Zane Grey Paramount western, “Wanderer oi the Wasteland,” featuring Dean Jagger, Gail Patrick and Edward Ellis, again to-ijight at the Regent Theatre, is cast in one of his two familiar roles, that of an Indian guide, Charley Jim. In his intermittent film career he has never been given any but two kinds of characterisations. Either he has been seen as a football advisor or manager in college productions, or else as an Indian scout in outdoor action pictures. These two particular parts seem to fit him perfectly and his portrayals assume a naturalness and ease. COMMENCING SATURDAY. “PUBLIC HERO No. 1.” Lionel Barrymore, as the inebriated Doctor Glass, turns in another performance of the inimitable Barrymore quality. Doctor Glass is a man we are given to believe who has the making of a great surgeon. His taste for “ likker ” has been responsible for the decline to his present level . . . that of a man in the special employ of a gangster mob. The character is at times highly amusing, and at others, deeply pathetic. Jean Arthur supplies the romance of “Public Hero Number 1.” Her role is a very sympathetic one, that of a typical American girl, sister of a mas-

tcr-criminal yet not suspecting ilia true character until near the end o£_ the story. Then she is torn between her love for her erring brother and her love for the man who hunts him. The situation is tensely dramatic, of course, yet never over-acted. The public is looking forward to Jean Arthur’s appearance following her excellent work in the recent picture, “ The Whole Town’s Talking.” Chester Morris, as Jeff Crane, handles nn unusual and difficult assignment. Morris, popular as he is, is perhaps best remembered for his outstanding performance in “ The Big House ” . . and again in one of the first gangster pictures, “ Alibi.” In “ Public Hero Number 1 ” he is back in the role similar in a sense and certainly as improssive in true dramatic value. It’s a part that calls,for real acting and Morris delivers the goods.