AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18492, 6 February 1930, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

GRAND THEATRE. “THE GIRL IN THE SHOW.” “The Girl in the Show,” which opened a season at the Grand Thearte last night, is a story of a travelling theatrical troupe, who are stranded in a small inland town. The troupe’s principal play is a version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and four popular players earn the dramatic and comic burdens of the piece. Bessie Love is delightful as “Little Eva,” or Hattie I-Tartley, in her off-stage moments, all of whose family have been “Tom” players. Raymond Hackett is Hattie’s love and “Simon Legree,” all in ''Sne package. Ford Sterling is at his best in the role of crooked manager, while Jed Prouty is the small-town “angel” whom Hattie vamps into a financial lift—almost! Nancy Price is lovely in the role of the fifth feminine Hartley to don the curls —and the wings—of “Little Eva.” For seventy-five years, “Tom” troupes have been going from one end of every English speaking country to the other, and “The Girl in the Show” symbalises them in a play which tells of a stranded troupe, and their many and varied adventures. The attempt of a small-town busy-body to arrest "Little Eva” for being under age, and the discovery that a mistake had been made and that Eva was quite an armful, together with the attempts of the crooked show manager to sell the troupe to the small-town "angel,” are only some of the high-lights of this picture. A tender vein of romance runs through the picture, which is full of whimsical humour, swift action and human interest. Supporting pictures include the latest Metrotone News, and a number of popular and tuneful melodies played by Spitalny’s Band. Craig Campbell, tenor, renders a number of vocal selections with good expression. THEATRE ROYAL. DOUBLE FEATURE PROGRAMME. Adventure, and romance on a tropic island off the coast of New Guinea, with three hundred derelicts scheming • for a fortune, and an unexpected ( climax in which a piece of human flot- ! sam redeems wasted life, are features . of “Black Magic,” one of the attractions at the Theatre Royal last night. Three white men, outcasts from civilisation, are living on the lonely island of Pango Lallo in the Arafura Sea, dreaming bitterly of their wasted opportunities and their chimeric hopes of some day returning “home.” John Ormsby, a successful pearl trader, arrives at the little port, intending to take the next day’s mail steamer. The three outcasts, envious of the fortune in pearls he is carying, plan an elaborate scheme to get possession of the gems. Ormsby is induced to wait over until the next steamer by his sudden interest in Katherine Bradbroke, older daughter of one of the conspirators. With the connivance of a native witchdoctor and of the rascally trader of the settlement, the derelicts enact a convincing drama, the purpose of which is to frighten Ormsby and persuade him that his only chance for life is to buy the trader’s schooner at any price, and flee from the island. Ormsby falls into the trap, and at the last moment Katherine realises that she has been made the catspaw of the plotters. She

attempts to warn Ormsby, but it develops that he has been playing a game of his own, and he completely outwits the conspirators. Josephine Dunn as Katherine and John Holland as Ormsby play the leads. Others in the cast are Henry B. Walthall, Earle Foxe, Fritz Feld, Dorothy Jordan, Sheldon Lewis, Ivan Linow, and Blue Washington. A new angle has been given to the war in the latest British production "Guns of Loos,” which shows the effect of shell shortage on the men in France I who had to stand by their guns for which there • "e no shells, whilst enemy ,n took a serious toll of their young lives. A thrill is achieved by the saving of the guns under the command of John Grimlaw. Racing at full speed over broken country, with gun carriages rocking from side to side, turning over, and almost breaking with the strain, the Royal Field Atillery have supplied in these scenes some of the biggest thrills recorded for a British production. Henry Victor, the star of this production, sinks his own personality in that of John Grimlaw, but part from the great success achieved by Victor, the other members of the cast (who include three newcomers to the screen in Madeleine Carroll. Bobby Howes and Hermione Baddeley) give outstanding performances. MAJESTIC THEATRE. “GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS.” Newspaperdom is the theme of “Gentlemen of the Press,” at present showing at the Majestic Theatre, and I critics have called it the most authen- I tic showing of newspaper atmosphere ever captured for the screen. Walter Huston has the leading role, and the veterans of the stage play appearing in the picture are Lawrence Leslie, the comedy reporter; Frank Frayne, the photographer; Duncan Levian and Victor Kilian. Katherine Francis is the vamp in the picture, the woman whose lure for men does not take one man from his work of newspapering. Charles Ruggles and Betty Lawford are the most important new faces that appear in this picture. News gathering has always been a synonym for romance. Huston plays the part of a newspaperman who has given up everything for the sake of his profession, and even when the news comes that his only daughter is likely to die, he is prevented from going to her bedside by a sudden rush of work. A newspaper office authentic .in every detail appears in this film. Green lampshades swing low over battered typewriters; a circular copy desk is covered with paste pots and news copy; there is colourful litter and disorder. A splendid number of short talking units are shown in conjunction with the big picture, including a two-reel comedy, “The Raw Recruit.” Two comedians, Clapham and Dwyer, feature a comedy selection entitled “Spontaneous Spasms,” and Pot Pourri No. 1 shows in sound the Flying Scotsman express leaving King’s Cross station, London, on the long run j through England, and numerous other interesting scenes in and around London.