THE THEATRE WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1935, Page 20 (Supplement)

THE THEATRE WEEK

FILMS AT NEW PLYMOUTH. Beginning at Everybody’s Theatre on Wednesday and at the Hawera Opera House on Monday, “Vanessa, Her Love Story,” concerns the heroine's troubled affair with Benjie Herries, the “wild one” of the famous Herries clan created by Hugh Walpole. On the eve of their wedding they are separated by a misunderstanding and when Vanessa relents Benjie has married another’ woman. Vanessa allows herself to be talked into marriage with Ellis Herries, a dour but respectable member of the family, who is insanely suspicious. Years later she meets Benjie and complications ensue. # # * * Dolly Haas, a Continental star, makes her first British screen appearance in “Girls Will be Boys,” appearing at Everybody’s Theatre on Saturday, She is seen as a pretty young girl who masquerades as a boy in order to appear as a “male heir” to her grandfather, an eccentric Duke with an aversion for having women about his household. As may be readily imagined, all kinds of hilarious and surprising situations arise during the masquerade. .#.***, The famous story of “The Old Curiosity Shop,” coming to the New Plymouth Opera House on Wednesday, is a tragic and stirring one. Tied to a lovable but poverty-stricken old grandfather who has gambled his money away, she flees with him from the clutches of his .mortgagor, Quilp, a demoniacal and malicious dwarf. The irony of the situation lies in the fact that while they are eluding Quilp they are also eluding the grandfather’s brother who has come from abroad to share with him a fortune that would make them free of the dwarf. * * « * • “Red Hot Tyres,” based on Tristam Tupper’s dynamic drama of the auto racing tracks, is a thrilling picture of daredevil speeding, which will be presented on a double-bill programme at the Regent Theatre on Saturday. The action is breath taking, and the story contains an unusual romance in which two crack drivers battle for the love of a beautiful girl as well as racing honours. Wallace Storm (Lyle Talbot),' is a. racing mechanic for Robert Griffin (Gavin Gordon). Both are in love with Patricia Sanford (Mary Astor), herself a designer of cars and the daughter of an automobile manufacturer.

The plot of “The Secret Bride,” which will be screened t with “Red Hot Tyres” at the Regent Theatre on Saturday, is based on the play by Leonard Ide. It is a thrilling drama of political plot? an d intrigues which involve two mysterious murders, a suicide and the impeachment of the governor of the state. In addition to the thrilling situations and the baffling mysteries there is a'i glamorous romance in which Miss Stanwyck has the role of the secret bride of the state’s attorney general who is compelled to investigate her father on charges of accepting a bribe. i

“Society Doctor,” to be shown at the Regent Theatre New Plymouth to-day, tells the love story of two young internes, Chester Morris and Robert Taylor, who compete for the attentions of a pretty, sensible nurse, Virginia Bruce. Morris is fired from his job in an emergency hospital for operating top hastily upon a patient, and the nurse, feeling her love for 'him is futile because he cannot agree that love and medicine will mix, accepts the marriage offer of Taylor. When Morris is shot and lies on the operating .table he changes his opinion. # * * * In “The Iron Duke,” to be shown at the State Theatre, New Plymouth, today, George Arliss, as the Duke of Wellington, is supported by a tremendous cast in which certain characters stand out with remarkable clarity, particularly Louis XVIII. (Allan Aynesworth), Blucher (Franklin Dyall), and Castlereagh (Gyles Isham) and Gladys Cooper (Duchess d’Angouleme). A vivid picture of the period is provided, major.settings including such/scenes as the ball before Waterloo, the great battle itself and the House of Boids. » “Let’s Live To-night,” coming to the State Theatre on Saturday, is a romantic comedy-drama telling the story of an eager young American girl, summering in Monte Carlo, who falls in love with a man she believes to be a poor but honest gigolo. A rather poignant theme develops when she discovers that he is a wealthy, debonair man-of-the-world preferring to love often but not too strongly. Disheartened, she encourages a younger and more romantic suitor, only to find that he is the brother of her desired Don Juan. FILMS AT STRATFORD. • The story of “Little Women,” which commences at the Plaza Theatre on Monday’and Tuesday, unfolds evenly and easily, telling of simple home life and tender romance. The roles of the four daughters are taken by Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Jean Parker and Frances Dee, a more graceful quartette than which has rarely been seen on the screen. ■# # * * Coming to the Plaza Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday, “Father Browh, Detective,” relates the redemption of that clever international thief,. Flambeau (Paul Lukas), by the ministrations of the shrewd little priest, Father Brown, who is ever so wise to human frailty, and has his own charming way of pointing out to the evil-doer the way to salvation and happiness. ■' #** - *

The accumulation of the best turns of a number of extremely popular British Broadcasting Cdmpany stars and the weaving of a story around their clever and novel presentations has resulted in a delightful radio musical entitled “On the Air,” which will be shown at the King’s Theatre on Thursday and Friday.,

Vesuvius will be the central c^ar ” acter” of a picture called “The Dumb Girl of Portici,” shortly to be made in Italy by a Czech director, and the eruption of the volcano will provide, the climax to the film.