CINEMA PROGRAMMES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 July 1935, Page 5

CINEMA PROGRAMMES

REGENT THEATRE TO-DAY, WILL ROGERS AND ZASU PITTS. The inimitable Will Rogers comes to the screen of The Regent Theatre, New Plymouth, to-day at 2 and 7.45 p.m. in Fox Film’s latest comedy release “Mr. Skitch.” The screen play is based upon Anne Cameron’s Saturday Evening Post story “Green Dice.” /Rogers, head of a family of six, suddenly finds himself penniless, and is confronted with : the task of making sufficient money to support his family. He places his brood in an old dilapidated car and starts towards California with the hope that he may secure a job in another community. He finally lands a job as waiter in a gambling casino. He gambles the first dollar he earns on the roulette wheel, and wins 3000 dollars, only to have his wife lose the money in an auto camp. Penniless once more, he starts off to Hollywood, to capitalise on the talents of a movie-star impersonator, whose acquaintance he has made at one of the auto camps. How Rogers and his family finally manage to emerge from financial difficulties in Hollywood is said to bring the film to an uproarious finale. In support of Rogers, the cast is headed by Zasu Pitts. Rochelle Hudson and Charles Starrett play the romantic leads, and are aided by three star funsters, Florence Desmond, Harry Green and Eugene Pallette. Excellent featurettes include Fox Movietone ■ news, “Man She Loved” (tintype), Tunisian Travels (travelogue), “We’re in the Money” (musical cartoon) and Universal News. The fifth chapter of “The Red Rider,” starring Buck Jones, will be an additional feature at the matinee only. EVERYBODY’S THEATRE. GRAND RE-OPENING TO-DAY. “British Agent,” a story of great love and an almost fanatical patriotism, set in the background of the Russian revolution, will be the grand re-opemng attraction at Everybody’s Theatre to-day at 2 and 7.45 p.m. Leslie Howard and Kay Francis head a large and talented cast. Inspired by the best selling novel of the internationally famous author, R. H. Bruce Lockhart, the drama is the stark, realistic story of the writer’s own experiences in Petrograd in the days when the streets ran red with blood. Leslie Howard plays the part of the author himself, with Kay Francis, a beautiful and aristocratic Russian ( lady dedicated to the red cause, in the feminine lead. Because the aims of their countries were at variance the two plotted against each other, the woman going so far as to inform the dread Cheka, Russia’s secret police, of her lovers whereabouts so that they could assassinate him. In the scenes in which she goes to him SO that they might die in each other’s arms, the picture reaches great heights., The roles of unofficial observers fsr the American, the Italian, ana French Governments are played respectively by William Gargan, Cesar Romero, and Phillip Reed. These four carried on their negotiations in secret, meeting in hidden attics, until one by one they were caught by the Cheka with the exception of the author. Among those in more important roles are Irving Pichel, Walter Byron", Ivan Simpson, Halliwell Hobbes, Arthur Aylesworth, and J. Carroll Naish, while hundreds of players take part in some of. the mob scenes. A well balanced supporting programme includes Fox Movietone news, “Believe Itor Not (Ripley), “Up on the Farm” (musical), Mr. and Mrs. is the Name” (musical cartoon in technicolour), “What an Idea.’ (Celebrity Vaudeville) and “What Not to. Do in Bridge,” one of the fascinating Ely Culbertson series. Reserves are advisable. . T NEW PLYMOUTH OPERA HOUSE, “DEVIL DOGS OF THE AIR.” “Devil Dogs of the Air,” one of the most authentic aviation pictures ever screened, commences at the New Plymouth Opera House to-day at 2 and 8 p.m. Jimmy Cagney, Pat O’Brien and Margaret Lindsay have the leading roles in this story of love and adventure at the United States air base at San Diego, and the film never ceases to be thrilling. It is packed with the most remarkable stunts, many at low altitudes, and it shows an aviator bringing down a machine in flames and two men safely landing an aeroplane with a crumpled wing-tip. Naval and military exercises on; the grand scale, with the aid of massed squadrons of aircraft, are shown, and through the whole film runs the story of the rivalry of two erst-while friends for the daughter of the owner of the “Happy Landing” cafe. Jimmy has one of his old parts as Tommy O Toole, the world’s greatest aviator,” tough, con-> ceited but likeable. Pat O’Brien is excellent as his unhappy superior officer, and Margaret Lindsay is as attractive as even. In the large supporting cast is the entertaining Frank McHugh, who has the role of “Crash” Kelly, an ambulance man who is always hoping. A brilliant array of featurettes includes Billy Hill and his vocal orchestra playing and singing his own world-popular song hits, including “The Last Round Up,” “The Old Spinning Wheel” and “Rain”; “Winning Putts” (Johnny Farrell golf featurette); “Hear Ye!” (a whirlwind musical comedy revue); “Bosco’s Mechanical Man” (cartoon), and Paramount British news. STATE THEATRE. “1935 SCANDALS” TO-DAY. "George White’s 1935 Scandals” has in addition to its gorgeous display of spectacular beauty, its scintillating stars and its gay music a refreshing human interest story. This plot deals with the ludicrous, joyous adventures of a producer, George White himself, who adopts the charming stars of a provincial company and finds himself obliged to unravel their tangled love affairs. Singers, dancers and entertainers bestar the entertainment. They include Alice Faye, James Dunn, Ned Sparks, Lyda Roberti, Cliff Edwards, Arline Judge, Eleanor Powell, Emma Dunn, Denny Rubin. George White, in addition to having'conceived, produced and • directed the entire production, appears in the cast. This production is the last word in the career of the man who gave Broadway 15 hits, and whose name is synonymous with sparkling ultramodern entertainment. Among the hit tunes specially composed for the new “Scandals” are: “According to the Moonlight ” “Hunkadola,” “Oh, I Didn t Know You’d Get Tha. Way,” “It’s An Old Southern Custom,” “I Got Shoes, You ■ Got Shoosies,” “I Was Bom Too Late. Eleanor Powell, one of the stars in the production, is said to be the greatest feminine tap-dancer in the world. Benny Rubin and Cliff Edwards provide most • of the humour with which the show abounds. KING’S, STRATFORD. DOUBLE FEATURE PROGRAMME. . Few stars in recent years have been able to boast as brilliant an array of leading men in one picture as can Barbara Stanwyck, in the title role of the First National picture, “A Lost Lady, which will come to the King’s Theatre to-day. Four famous leading men of the stage and screen contribute brilliant dramatic support to Miss Stanwyck as Her lovers in ■ is production. Frank .

Morgan marries Miss Stanwyck to save her from the wreck of her life after her fiance has been slain. Ricardo Cortez is the arrogant, self-assured lover, who sweeps the lost lady off her feet and brings her to the verge of leaving everything behind her for his sake, Lyle Talbot is madly and hopelessly in love with her, and Phillip Reed has the role of a young cavalier whose tragic death, coupled with the revelation of his faithlessness to her during their engagement, shatters the girl’s faith in men and love. SPARKLING ENTERTAINMENT. “RADIO PARADE” AT PLAZA.

One of the most musical and entertaining films that have ever graced the talking screen is the ambitious 8.1. P. production, “Radio Parade,” which will come to the Plaza Theatre to-day. Boosting a really magnificent cast of international stage, radio and screen stars, the picture differs from the usual comedy revue film in that each artist is introduced logically and effectively into the story of life behind the scenes of a big broadcasting station, and not in just a series of individual turns. The three leading figures as far as the story is concerned are screen favourites, Will Hay, Clifford Mollison and charming Helen Chandler. Such artists as the inimitable comedy duo Clapham and Dwyer, whose records enjoy tremendous popularity, and whose names in Australia are household words. Another is Ronald Frankau. A large portion of the supporting programme is occupied by the screening of “Mighty Everest,” a remarkable picturisation of the last expedition to attempt to scale this formidable peak, u