CINEMA PROGRAMMES

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 19 (Supplement)

CINEMA PROGRAMMES

EVERYBODY’S THEATRE. “STINGAREE.” As Hilda Bouverie, the great singer who was responsible for “Stingaree’s” most famous recorded exploit, Irene Dunne is also given the chance to demonstrate the great beauty and power of her singing voice in “Stingaree,” which commences at Everybody’s Theatre today at 2 and 8 p.m. The story opens at the homestead of the Clarksons on the eve of the arrival of Sir Julian Wade, a great musical impresario. Hilda Bouverie is a companion to Mrs. Clarkson, who is jealous of the girl’s voice, and tries to prevent her from being heard by Sir Julian. In the meantime, Stingaree has arrived in the district, and the way in which the bandit eventually forces Sir Julian and a fashionable assemblage to listen to Hilda’s singing is a masterpiece of recklessness and genius. Hilda’s great musical chances are realised by Sir Julian, and he agrees to take her to England, but Stingaree’s actions to further the girl’s career have cost him his liberty. The young singer’s rise to fame, her faithfulness to the memory of the far-distant outlaw, and their eventual reunion provide the threads of a fascinating and exciting tale. Richard Dix makes a most likeable character out of the devil-may-care bandit, and very amusing portrayals are given by a host of minor characters, including Conway Tearle, Una O’Connor, Henry Stephenson and Mary Boland. A full supporting programme includes a Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon entitled “The Pet Store.” NEW PLYMOUTH OPERA HOUSE. “HOLLYWOOD PARTY.” “Hollywood Party,” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s musical extravaganza, will commence its local season at the Opera House to-day at 2 and 8 p.m. There is hectic movement from first to last, a sequence of hilarious situations throughout, with here and there highly colourful episodes against a background of bright and snappy music. There is, too, an unusual aggregation of leading figures in the production, and an outstanding feature in the form of a Mickey Mouse technicolour item, “Hot Chocolate Soldiers,” which is one of the best things Walt Disney has done. With Laurel and Hardy appearing intermittently on the scene, the fun comes fast and furious, while the ballet settings are on the lavish scale of the “Gold Diggers of Broadway.” Jimmy Durante is a host in himself as an entertainer, and his ’’Schnarzan the Lion-man” with his mate, Dupe Velez, rocks the audience with laughter. The party is “thrown” by a cinema producer to outdo a rival, and secure the rights of a particularly wild pack of lions for a jungle feature. The competition of the film-folks reaches colossal dimensions. There is an orchestra suspended in midair, goeqejii ia .whiefe girls dance

in cellophane dresses and singing and revelry that reach a climax when Laurel and Hardy break into the party, as owners of the “Yes and No” Lion Farm, to trade their wares. The lions are let loose in the midst of the frivolities, and there is a wild scamper, in which the inimitable comedians jump for their lives —over a garden wall into a nudist colony, and they “go and do likewise.” The associate programme includes Metrotone News, “Soup and Fish,” a Thelma ToddPatsy Kelly comedy, “Flying Hunters,” an M.-G.-M. oddity, and “The Big Ditch of Panama,” a very interesting travelogue. REGENT THEATRE. MATINEE TO-DAY. “Once to Every Woman,” the screen version of the widely read Cosmopolitan Magazine novelette, “Kaleidoscope in K, ’ will commence a season at The Regent to-day at 2 and 8 p.m. Fay Wray is cast in the featured role of “Mary Fanshawe,” a professional woman who falls in love with Walter Byron, against her better judgment. When Byron is unmasked as a philanderer, she seeks consolation in the sincere devotion of Ralph Bellamy, a brilliant young surgeon, then to discover that his love is what she had mistakenly believed Byron’s to be. Bellamy’s role in “Once to Every Woman” marks his second co-featured assignment opposite Fay Wray, having appeared last season as her leading man in “Below the Sea.” Walter< Connolly again proves what a grand veteran he is in the difficult role of “Dr. Selby,” whose long reputation as a great surgeon is being dimmed by the brilliance of his assistant and protege, Ralph Bellamy. “Once to Every Woman” will be preceded by “The California Trail,” starring Puck Jones. In this stirring panorama of the development of Southern California during the days when the only trains were waggon trains Jones is cast in the role of a trail-making scout who travels as a guide with waggon-trains. Helen Mack provides the feminine interest. The final chapter of “Gordon of Ghost City" wiU • be screened at the matinee only. ■ /