ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1932, Page 22 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

COMING EVENTS.

OPERA HOUSE. To-nmH, Monday and Tuesday: 'The Virtuous Husband” (Elliot Nugent —Jean Arthur), Universal production; “Duffer Swings” a L’ roll golf short); and T>penin o of Sydney Harbour Bridge. „ njf ao * —Marguerite Churchill—El Bren •' del), Fox Movietone production; and “Getting on the Green (John-, uv Farrell short). ■foril 30: “Men on Call” (Edmund Lowe. —Marguerite Churchill), Fox Movietone production; and “Hunting Vigors in India.” THE REGENT. To-night, Monday.and Tuesday; /'AUbi” /’(Austin Trevor—Franklin Dyall—• ; ' Mercia Swinburne), British special, production; “Opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge”; and Chapter TV. of “Heroes of the Elaines.” April 20 to 22: “Children of Dreams”. ’ (Margaret Schilling—Paul Gregory) Warner Bros, super musical production. . . April 23 and 26: “Wicked” (Ehssa Lan- - Ji—Victor McLaglen), Fox produc-tion;'-and Chapter V, of “Heroes of ' ; the Flames.” April 85: No pictures (Anzac Day)., ■ . April 27 'to 29: “The Lash” (Richard ■ Barthelmess), First National production. April 30: “The'Cisco Kid” . (Warner Baxter—Edmund Lowe), Fox production; “My Friend the King” (Jerry Varno—Phyllis Loring), British production; and Chapter VI. of “Heroes of the Flames.” EVERYBODY’S. To-night, Monday and Tuesday: “Riders of the Purple Sage” (George O’Brien), Fox Movietone production; “Duffer Swings” (Johnny Farrell golf short); and “Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.” April 20 to 22: “Secrets of a Secretary” (Claudette Colbert—Herbert Marshall), Paramount production. April 23 and 26: “How He Lied to Her Husband” (Robert Harris—V era Lennox); “Uneasy Virtue” (Fay Compton—Dodo Watts—Edmund Breon), British double-star programme;' and “Getting on the Green”. (Johnny Farrell golf short). April 25: No pictures (Anzac Day). April 27 to 29: “My • Sin” (Tallulah Bankhead —Fredric March), Paramount production. • * • • "ALIBI” Agatha Christie’s popular novel, “The. Murder of Roger Ackroyd” has lost none of the vital mystery of the plot by its transference to the talking screen in “Alibi,” the distinctive English film version, commencing at the Regent today at 2 and 8 p.m. Hercule Poirot, the genial French detective of fiction, whose ostensibly ingenuous manner conceals brilliant powers of deduction, is admirably played by Austin Trevor, an English artist of worth. Excellent performances are also contributed by Franklin' Dyall, who impersonates the unpopular, country squire who is killed \in circumstances at first implying suicide. Further investigations, however, set in train a murder mystery as baffling ■/ as anything that has yet been seen on .the screen. . , -THE VIRTUOUS HUSBAND.” The absolute ultimate in sophistication, “The Virtuous Husband,” Universal’s sparkling screen edition of the stage play, “Apron Strings,” will play a return season, at the Opera House to-day at 2 and ’-8 p.m., with fascinating Betty Compson, Elliott Nugent and pert Jean Arthur in the ultra-modern, leading roles. The story of a supposedly idealistic young husband who never possessed either the major or minor vices, and his beautiful, new wife who . prefers love to lectures,. is, in all probability, the most daring picture that the talking picture era has brought forth. The comic situations, directed by a genius of the art, Vin Moore,, are hailed as gems of uproariously funny entertainment. Betty Compson, always capable and t>ne of the most beautiful women in motion pictures, has never been better cast than as the worldly “friend.” Elliott Nugent, brilliant young actor; lovely, little Jean Arthur of “The Gang Buster,” “Fu Manchu,” and a host of favourites; J. C. Nugent, famous character actor and father of Elliott; Allison Skipworth of the London stage; Tully Marshall; Eva MdKenzie; and “Sleep-’n-Eat;” the re-luctantly-moving coloured boy, who rose to fame in Harold Lloyd’s “Feet First,” form one of the most distinguished easts to be gathered for one picture in many a season. Dale Van Every and Fred Niblo, Jr., adept authors of a score of successful screen plays, adapted the picture version of the Dorrance Davis play, and Jerome Ash, famed cinematographer, directed the excellent photography of the production. “The Virtuous Husband” will raise roars of laughter with its original farce and will make people raise their eyebrows at its dialogue, but “The Virtuous Husband” is a picture not to be missed by those who believe in seeing the best. « # » •

«RIDERS OP THE PURPLE SAGE.”

Thrills vie with romance in ‘‘Riders of the Purple Sage,” gripping Fox outdoor drama, which commences at Everybody’s to-day at 2 and 8 p.m. A mountain avalanche, a huge ranch destroyed by fire, a stampede of fear-maddened eattle, together with a heart-stirring love story, feature this talkie version of Zane Grey’s mighty saga of the West. You will tingle at the deeds of daring “Lassiter,” portrayed by George O’Brien, who rescues winsome Marguerite Churchill in the role of Jane Withersteen from the persecutions of Noah Beery, who plays the unscrupulous Judge Dyer. The picture was actually made in the country of which Zane Grey wrote, and Director Hamilton MacFadden and his company spent several weeks on location in a scenic wilderness many miles from’ Flagstaff in Arizona. ‘’SECRETS OF A SEORETAY."

A story of- smart society intrigue and romance, as seen 'by a social secretary, herself a former member of society before the death of her father and the sudden collapse of his fortune,, is vividly revealed in the new Paramount drama, “Secrets of a Secretary,” which commences at ■ Everybody’s next Wednesday; A story of power and vmda<sS K "Secrets of a Secretary,” with Claudette Colbert in the title role, builds carefully through ■ a series of startling situations, which reveal tho shocking truth about society life, to a climax that is at once thrilling and convincing. JThe cast in addition to Miss Colbert,

includes the distinguished English actor, Herbert Marshall; Georges Metaxa, Mary Boland, Betty Lawford and Hugh O’Connell. “’WATERLOO BRIDGE.”

Telling the story of a soldier who meets a woman on Waterloo Bridge, and who is willing to forget her past, “Waterloo Bridge” will commence a special four-night season at the Opera House on Monday. The theme is not new. Famous French authors have dealt with, it some romantically and others brutally, but their stories always, seem to leave a feeling of incompleteness. Waterloo Bridge,” however, gives a more satisfactory solution. The girl, Mae Clarke, with her portrayal of Myra of th© London streets, handles her subject restrainedly and with delicacy. Ike man, Kent Douglass, lives his role of the soldier on leave, a youth somewhat bewildered by what he has gone through, but ready to enjoy to the full Ins short spell of lejive. They meet during qn air raid, and fall in love. The girls life comes between them, but he forgives her, and she, when snatching desperately at this one chance, suddenly realises that her past actions have built up an insurmountable barrier. How she goes to meet her destiny is perhaps the most moving - part of the film. Waterloo •Bridge” is not a picture that one can forget quickly, for one not only sees the joys and sorrows of the people who lived in London.' during the mad wardays, but a tragedy that could happen in any town -in the world. #'* ■ * * . “CHILDREN OF DREAMS.”

“Children of Dreams,” the much heralded Warner Bros, production, comes to the Regent next Wednesday. Early scenes of the glamorous story are laid in the California orchard country at, harvest time when the wandering applepickers are camped under the trees, dancing to gay strings in the moonlight or making love among the shadows, -he romance is that of a girl who leaves her humble love for fame, finds it, and then—but that is the story. Margaret Schilling, brought from Broadway for this picture, and known to listeners-in everywhere as the Radio Girl, plays the feminine lead. The male lead is Paul Gregory, introduced to Hollywood by Ziegfeld of the “Follies.” Others are Tom Patricola, Bruce Winston, Charles Winninger and Marion Byron with hundreds of added characters, and the Grooney Singers, numbering over 100 mixed voices. Oscar Hammerstein 11. and Sigmund Romberg did “Children of Dreams”—with the magic which has made their many musical shows the most famous in the world. “PRIVATE LIVES.” NOEL COWARD FILM. This is from a London paper— Crowds are thronging to see Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” which, in American parlance, is just a “wow.” Superbly put over fay a quartette of brilliant players, headed 'by Norma Shearer (surely the brainiest of all female film favourites), this quadrangular quarrel loses little by the fact that it follows so closely the construction and form and dialogue of the original play. There is, it is true, a slight departure into German Switzerland or Tyrol with the object of introducing some picturesque high mountain scenery and dangerous climbing episodes, but in the main the simple sequence of events invented by the author for his comedy is preserved for the picture. You probably know the story. It is a matrimonial mix-up. A divorced couple decide each to re-marry, but on the first night of the honeymoon with their new mates find themselves, all four, by the strangest of coincidences, in the same hotel by the French seaside. Again, with the, aid of the long arm of the playwright, they are given rooms adjoining each, other, and each couple is provided with a balcony overlooking the sea. They find that, after all, they do not love their new partners, and that the first flame of their passion for each other has never burnt itself out, but is flaring up more strongly than ever. , They decide to bolt, and the whole of the fun consists in their series of turtledove billings and cooings, alternated with hysterical and neurotic wranglings and naggings, terminating in a furious battle and physical struggle, in which the room is made a lumber attic.

The support given to Miss Shearer by Robert Montgomery is better than Noel Coward himself supplied to Gertrude Lawrence, whilst Reginald Denny and Una Merkel were admirable as the other corners to the quadrangle.

“THE QUEEN OF SONG.”

GALLI-CURCI’S VISIT.

An announcement of outstanding interest to the musical people of New Zealand is that made by Mr. Harry •Stringer, New Zealand representative of Messrs. J. and N. Tait, heralding the appearance in tho Dominion (unfortunately for but a brief season) of the one and only Galli-Curci, “Queen of Song.” Reports from abroad are to the effect that the, voice of the song-bird is 'better than ever, if that be possible. Memories of her exquisite singing are still fresh in the minds of all who had the privilege of hearing the idol of many countries —of all countries, it can be said with every truth —on her last Dominion tour. What a sensation she then created! Who will ever forget the picture of the diva, standing so unassumingly before vast audiences, with her hands placidly folded, trilling like the lark and anon rousing her hearers to wild enthusiasm with her wonderful dramatic offerings; later stilling them with pathetic presentations that appealed to every heart?

OUTSTANDING AUSTRALIANS.

ENGAGED FOR. -BITTER SWEET.”

Two outstanding Australian screen personalities have gone back to the stage for Noel Coward's musical play, “Bitter Sweet,” at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. They are Donalda Warne and Cecil Scott. At the -ge of 1C years Miss Warne was given the leading role in th© Ben Travers comedy, “Rookery Nook,” at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, and subsequently she appeared in a number of important parts in farce and comedy, one of her most recent appearances having been with Edith Talia-ferro-in “Let Us Be Gay.” Cecil Scott was associated with Margery Hicklin during,her last visit to Australia. He appeared in the musical comedies “Leave It to Jane,” “Tell Me More,” “Tip Toes,” “Primrose,” and other productions. He was born in Bathurst, New South Wales, and had a varied stage career prior to being engaged to play the title role in the talking picture, “The Sentimental feloke.”

MARIE TEMPEST PLAY.

GRAVEYARD 'SCENE IN FARCE.

I wonder whether I am unduly squeamish, but, rightly or wrongly, I do not find a graveyard a good subject for farcical joking (writes Alan Parsons jn the London Daily Mail). Maybe a m too squeamish, but if so T a number of last night’s audience at the Ambassadors Theatre (for Captain H. M Harwood’s “So Far and No Farther ) felt the same. Perhaps there have been too many deaths in the theatrical world lately anyhow, graveyards are definitely and perilously unfunny to me. I am sorry for this, because at first there seemed endless possibilities of good fun in this P 1 There was Miss Marie Tempest as a temperamental actress, with two adolescent and horribly modern and inquisitive children in attendance. - “Who is our father 7” they demand at the point of the pistol. She prevaricates and refers them haphazard to a tomb in the local churchyard, beat mg the I name of Aiderman Ezra Sidebottom. So the curtain of Act 2 rises on the children laying a wreath on the A man’s grave, and exploding a number of cheap wise-cracks on their imaginary father’s unfortunate name. No, this is not only unfunny and u - worthy of Captain Harwood, but it is positively distasteful, so much so that the subsequent complications in the Sidebottom family, and the ine y lta J ) ® appearance of the real father, do not amuse as they should. . , . , Of course, Miss Tempest is such a superb comedienne that she cannot fail to keep us laughing, especially as the author has provided her with many amusing lines. But after that graveyard scene everything fellj strangeiy flat, m spite of the heroic efforts of Mi. Graham Browne as the father and Mr. Robert Andrews as the son. . ... A good idea and a profusion of witty, provocative lines—that is the best that can be said for this comedy. That graveyard scene was definitely all wrong.

KREISLER’S BIG AUDIENCE.

INCOMPARABLE PLAYING.

Fritz Kreisler played sonatas by Bach and Tartini and Mozart’s third concerto in G at the Albert Hall, where there was an audience estimated at 7000 (says a London paper). The last time the great artist appeared in London one had to remark that he was off colour. The more pleasure, then, to be able to say that yesterday he was in his true form, and that it was for all Kreislerians a heavenly afternoon. The right wrist no doubt is no longer as flexible as once. No matter; his violin playing is still incomparable in its noble poise and depth of feeling. The great performance of the afternoon was the slow movement of the concerto. Among the smaller pieces were two Habaneras by Ravel, both exquisitely played.

SYBIL THORNDIKE AND FILMS.

“WONDERFUL WORK.”

“I think it is wonderful work,” said Dame Sybil Thorndike, who comes to Australia, and .New Zealand shortly, when asked about the films. ‘lt gives you such opportunities for technique. You are asked to express an emotion. or an idea with your eyes alone, or with your month. You are told that your hands alone are 'being photographed, and your hands must say all that they are meant to say. It is a. remarkable training.” She spoke with enthusiasm of her part as Nurse Cavell in “Dawn.” “There was never anything so interesting as Cavell, a part into which you could put your whole self.” Her latest film work was in the Lancashire classic, “Hindle Wakes.”

FINE SHOWS IN NEW YORK.

A MARATHON PERFORMANCE.

“There are some very fine shows in New York,” writes Lionel Inch, a New Zealand actor who has done well in America. “Notable among them are ‘The Devil Passes,’ ‘Springtime for Henry,’ ‘The Cat and the Fiddle,’ ‘Mourning Becomes Electra,’ ‘The Good Fairy,’ and ‘The Church Mouse.’ This season, too, the plays, it is interesting to observe, are not so. packed with the sex aspect as they were a couple of seasons ago. Mourning Becomes Electra, with Alla Nazimova and Alice Brady starring, begins at 5 p.m. and does not end until 11.3'5 p.m., and is packed for every performance. Although most sordid in character, it is great. Judith Anderson, who was with Williamson’s in Australia, is doing Alice Brady’s part in the touring company playing ‘Electra,’ and has earned some splendid encomiums from the Press.

“Competition in New York for any job in this business is simply amazing. There arc hundreds after every job, but so far I have been fortunate, and have gone from one show to another without much loss of time.”

“THE GENIUS OF THE PIANO.”

MOISEWITSCH TO TOUR.

Moisewitsch, the world-famous pianist who is coming to New Zealand under the aegis of Messrs. J. and N. Tait, the firm responsible for the appearance in the Dominion of so many of the leading musical and dramatic artists, will open his Dominion tour at the Wellington Town Hall on Thursday, May 19. It is doubtful if this great player has an equal in the interpretation of modern ■works. Among his many brilliant achievements during his outstanding career is his impressive and wholly satisfying treatment of the Chopin classics. “He is a veritable genius of the piano,” declared a critic; “as an interpreter of the compositions of Chopin he stands alone.” But Moisewitsch is truly catholic in his musical tastes; he succeeded in proving to, the musical world that he is equally at home while playing the compositions of all the other great authors. His knowledge of the music traditions of Russia, Italy, France and Spain is inexhaustible; and from the simplest musical theme he can present a veritable poem picture, complete in all its delicate shadings, an artistic production that entrances and satisfies the most exacting critic.

SHAKESPEARE BOOMING.

ENTHUSIASM IN LONDON.

“Julius Caesar” continues to draw th© crowds to His Majesty’s Theatre, London. For instance, on a recent Saturday over £9OO was taken at the two performances, which is a record no Shakespearean production in the West End has approached for many years. Ernest Milton is planning an elaborate production of “Othello” for another West End theatre. “Othello” is also to be played a the Old Vic “Othello” will be played by Wilfred Walken Edith Evans will return to that theatre, after six years, in the role of Emilia.

“JULIUS CAESAR.”

SHAKESPEARE IN LONDON.

What is said about the revival of “Julius Caesar,” asks the London Sunday Times. That it has not the imaginative reticence of those bleak exploits over the water? But will not the management counter by referring us to what happened when “Hamlet” was presented recently in Shaftesbury Avenue with spareness unrivalled and paucity unmatched? To which we must answer, “Nobody went!” But the present object is to make people go, and for three reasons: Because actors have mouths, because their children have mouths, and because Shakespeare is not a bad mouthpiece. Let those who have the heart grumble that this production glistens a trifle too oleographically, that its lighting is reminiscent of the Dark Ages, while its cinema effects are heraldic of the New, perhaps that its marchings and countermarchings evoke the Lyceum stage on Boxing Day. For Tree, who thought this ty.pe of production beautiful, there was never any aesthetic excuse; for the present management there is the justification of knowing that a public exists which deems these toys beautiful and hopes it will pay to see them. Curiously enough the over-staging drags out the play rather happily, so that anybody who wants to leave after the Forum Scene will still have had about two and a-half hours’ entertainment. The highbrow view is that this play begins when Antony has stopped talking, and we can compose our minds to the consideration of Shakespeare’s object, that of supplementing Ecclesiastes and showing how the race and the battle are always to the swiftminded and never to the strong, how the magnanimity of Brutus was his undoing and the charlatanry of Antony his 'making. The wise, non-highbrow playgoer will not believe any of this nonsense, but hold that th© greatest of playwrights knew a good thing for the stage when he came across it in history or elsewhere. Tree was a great character actor, and naturally Antony, who had as little character as makes no matter, was Tree’s worst part; he certainly played it like an auctioneer who has lost his voice but retained glibness. Perhaps Antony can never be anybody’s best part, and Godfrey Tearle has hard work to suggest the master of dissimulation. But this actor is always a, very fine Shakespearean, and he remains Shakespearean even when the crowd drowns him and he has to think about ticktacking in the racecourse sense. When he is not interrupted, Mr. Tearle speaks verse beautifully and movingly, as he proved when the production of the affair left him alone with the body of Caesar and the “0 pardon me” speech. Contrariwise, Baliol Holloway, despite lashings of experience, still persists in having no notion how to speak blank verse, which comes from him in Morse-like spurts of two syllables at a time. His Cassius is, however, well in. key, though it is Robert 'Speaight’s scream ,of passion of the week before whicli still haunts me. Basil Gill’s Brutus is altogether too noble, since he obviously regards the murder of Caesar as an emotion to he anticipated in tranquillity. Then are not this actor’s looks a shade too marmoreal, like those austere statues behind whose lustreless and unseeing eyes nothing goes on ? This Brutus star-gazing in his orchard, his custom always on a night when in another part of Rome it is raining cats and dogs, reminds one of a cathedral on a weekday or a town hall on Sunday, a magnificent facade with not much “doing” inside. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in your stars but in your too equable star-gazing! For the rest, Lyn Harding makes Caesar self-sufficient and pompous, as indeed does Shakespeare. Lawrence Anderson’s Octavius is rather the overbearing subaltern than the insolent pa-trician-cub, and Oscar Asche is still the finest Casca ever. As Artemidorus Mr. Saintsbury has a good five minutes, While Mr. Highnctt is once again a butler, since the Soothsayer is obviously in the household of the Sphinx. The ladies in this play are things of dramatic nought, and neither Mrs. Siddons nor Mrs. Crummies tying themselves into knots could do much with Portia and Calpurnia, in which parts Lily Brayton and 'Dorothy Green make self-denying ordinances. In the Roman mob, which gradually indulges in what the late Lord Curzon called a “be-anho,” one recognises many old friends and here and there an old enemy.

BEERBOHM TREE TRADITION.

DOME ROOM REHEARSALS.

They have been reviving a Tree tradition at His Majesty’s Theatre, London, for the early rehearsals of “Julius Caesar.” When I looked in a few days ago (says a London writer) I found Oscar Asche directing the proceedings in the celebrated Dome Room above the theatre itself.

This room has not been used for rehearsals for many years, but in Tree’s time it was just as much a matter of routine to begin work “in the roof” as it is now part of the routine to begin rehearsals of Lyceum pantomimes in the bar!

By using the Dome Room again Mr. Asche, Lily Brayton and Lyn Harding have had the curious experience of rehearsing in view of the huge wall-panel which represents them as they appeared in Tree’s production of “Richard II.” in 1903.

This panel is an enlargement of the photographic souvenir presented to each member of the audience at an anniversary performance of the play.

PLAY’S WIDE FAME.

“GAY ADVENTURE” BOOKINGS.

Good news travels far, as well as fast, among playgoers. The box-office manager at the Whitehall Theatre, London, ■where Mr. Walter Hackett’s comedy, “The Gay Adventure,” with Marion Lome and Seymour Hicks in the leads, is proving one of the biggest theatrical successes in London, received a telephone message from Geneva one day recently. It was an Englishman ordering six seats for the next Saturday. He explained that he had heard so much about the delightful stage partnership of Seymour Hicks and Marion Lome in “The Gay Adventure” from London visitors to Geneva that he wanted to see the play for himself at the earliest possible moment. Mr. Hackett has received three pressing offers frotn New York for the rights of the production, and negotiations proceeding are likely to result in “The Gay Adventure” 'being staged over there by a well-known producer. J Meanwhile the theatre ticket agencies have renewed their deal for seats for a considerable period.

A NEW YORK COMEDY.

WILLIAMSON ENTERPRISE.

J. C. Williamson, Ltd., have secured another important attraction to add to their already long list for 1932. This is a production of the comedy, which has just been produced in New York for the first time, entitled, “Whistling in the

Dark,” by Laurence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter. Two of the principals are already on the way to Australia. They are John Junior and Stapleton Kent, who made a big success throughout Australia in the J. and N. Tait production of “Turn to the Right. According to present arrangements, “Whistling in the Dark” will be given its first Australian production at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne, after “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” has moved on to Sydney.

POLA NEGRI’S FIANCE.

A SHY MILLIONAIRE.

London, February S.

Tola Negri is going to marry, a man who shrinks so much from publicity that his name will be divulged to the woild only on their wedding day. He will be her fourth husband. A Daily Express representative.spoke to her by telephone in her suite in the Drake Hotel, Chicago; and her vibrant voice, with its tired —and very effective —littlo droop, almost obviated the need of television. “I shut my eyes and saw again that reddest mouth, that blackest hair, that whitest skin, and those most enormous and seductive eyes —she revels in a region of superlatives—of the woman who told me in London last year that she would live only for her ar-r-r-t. She rolls her r’s most sweetly. “And who,” I asked, “is the lucky man you have chosen?” “The lucky man?” she echoed. “Ah, well, he is a verree shy man. I cannot tell you his name. He dislikes publicity so much. I will tell you only on our wedding day. He forrrbids me to tell you beforrre.

“We shall be married in August at the latest. Perhaps in July. Perhaps in June. I am making a picture soon, and when that is done I shall marry. I do not know if I shall give up my career then or not. I may—or I may just be married.”

‘Who is he?” I said. “Is he a ” “He is simply a multi-millionaire,” replied the ex-Baroness Popper, the exCountess Eugene Domski, the ex- Princess Serge Mdivani. “But I am not marrying him because of his money. I am verree fond of him, I respect him. “He is a fine man—and he’s 15 years older than I. I think that a woman, if she is to be contented in marriage,

must have a husband to whom she can look up. “Ah! I hope now, after all my unfortunate experiences, to find happiness. “1 shall never forget Rudolph Valentino. He was th© grrreat love of my life. But this good, fine man, of whom I am so fond, represents to me something for which 1 have always craved