ENTERTAINMENTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3929, 21 July 1937, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. AGAIN TO-NIGHT. “THE PLAINSMAN.” The charming couple who made “Mr Deeds Goes to Town” the delightful success it was, are back in a sweeping panorama of America’s greatness in the making, “The Plainsman,” Cecil B. DeMille’s tribute to the men and women of America who brought civilisation to the plains, which has its final screening to-night at the Regent Theatre. Handsome Gary Cooper is cast as “Wild Bill” Hickok in the saga, and lovely Jean Arthur portrays “Calamity Jane,” famous frontier-woman who loved the silent, hard-fighting peace officer, but could net have him. They are a far different pair in “The Plainsman” than they were in “Mr Deeds,” and yet their assignment to the leading romantic roles is regarded as a master stroke of casting. DeMille paints on heroic canvas the whole of the American frontier scene in the ten years which immediately followed the Civil War. Such famous frontier folk as “Buffalo Bill,” played by James Ellison; his wife, Louisa, portrayed by Helen Burgess; “Broken Nose” Jack McCall, desperado who slew Hickok, played by Porter Hall; John Lattimer, notorious gun-runner, nlayed by Charles Bickford, and General George A. Custer, por' rayed bv John Miljan, all come to life again, while 2000 Cheyenne Indians, 250 army cavalrymen and an equal number of horses, are employed in the characteristic DeMille mannel to capture the sweep and scope cf the period of American westward expansion. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. “SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR.” A violent revolt within the ranks of the country’s number one gun mob shat’ers the old saw about honour among thieves, as it is seen in Richard Dix’s picture, “Special Investigator.” This is one cf the highlights in the RKO Radio film that was adapted from Erie Stanley Gardner’s magazine serial. “Fugitive Gold,” under the direction cf Louis King. Colourful background for the resulting battle is provided by an old Navada mine used by the gangsters to put stolen gold into circulation. Here the Government’s agents and the gold-stealing gang fight it out, the picture being replete with the physical thrills that have come to be expected of a Dix vehicle. In “Special Investigator” the star is provided

with triple opportunity to do his stuff, appearing successively as a city attorney, as a “mouthpiece” for criminals, and as a special agent for the Federal Department of Justice. Margaret Callahan is romantically teamed with him. EMPIRE THEATRE. AGAIN TO-NIGHT AND TO-MORROW. “NOBODY’S FOOL.” “Nobody’s Fool,” the Universal film starring Edward Everett Horton, now at the Empire Theatre, is a story about the dumbest or the cleverest man in town, depending on the viewpoint. His lack of guile and his proclivity for putting his foot into situations where other folks would not dare to thrust a ten-foot pole, lifted him from the humble job of small town waiter to the position of leading Manhattan realtor. Whenever he was called on to talk, he had one set speech, about better housing conditions. By sheer luck, or the Providence that watches over babes, fools and real estate promoters, he made that speech to a gathering of the leading operators in the metropolis. And they were impressed. He got mixed up in a plan devised by real estate sharps, to gouge owners of property where title flaws could be shown. From this muddle, while facing the toughest gang of highbinders in town, the fellow everybody thought a dummy worked out an honest project for better housing conditions. He proved to be nobody’s fool. His plan guaranteed a return to investors. Best of all, it gave decent living condition, to people who had never known them before. NEXT WEEK-END. “READY WILLING AND ABLE.” Something altogether new in the way of a motion picture with music has been booked for the Empire theatre, beginning next Friday, when ■Ready, Willing and Able,” a Warner Bros, production co-starring Ruby Keeler and Lee Dixon, will be offered to local audiences. In the first place, there is a much more substantial story to this film than is usually the case with musical comedies. “Ready, Willing and Able,” under the same title,_was published last year in a national weekly magazine. It is by Richard Macaulay, the well known novelist. The flow of the story was kept unchanged by those who adap’ed it for screen purposes—Jerry Wald Sig Herzig and Warren Duff, and unusual efforts were made by the casting department to select players wh-.' fitted the characters as conceived by Macaulay. Ruby Keeler, premiere tap dancer cf the screen, is a particularly happy choice for leading lady, and opposite her is Lee Dixon, sensational young dancer whom Warners lured from the Broadway stage.