AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXV, Issue 18948, 6 August 1931, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS.

REGENT THEATRE. , “THE RIGHT TO LOVE.” The drama of a girl who resolved that love should have its proper consideration. is outlined in Ruth Chatterton’s newest picture. “The Right to Love.” which is now at the Regent Theatre. In the dominant roles (Miss Chatterton plays three distinct parts in this production) of “The Right to Love,” Miss Chatterton scales new heights. In the beginning, she is cast as Naomi Kellogg, a young and lovely girl, whose brief, ecstatic love ends in a life of sorrow. Later, she plays Naomi as an old woman, the wife of a man she has never loved. And at the end. she is cast as Brook Evans, daughter of Naomi, a young, impulsive girl. to whom love beckons, just as it had to her mother, years before. Building up to a believable and highly dramatic climax, through a series of well thought out. perfectly executed, logical sequences of great interest, “The Right to Love” emerges as a picture to command the attention of every man and woman. Supporting Miss Chatterton is a distinguished cast, including Paul Lukas. Irving Pichel, Oscar Apfei and David Manners. “ MOROCCO.” COMMENCES ON SATURDAY. A vibrant love story set in burning desert sands is told in “Morocco,” which comes to the Regent Theatre on Saturday. “Morocco” is the story of a man, a woman and another man, filmed against the colourful, ever-changing background of Northern Africa and the French Foreign Legion. Tom Brown (Gary Cooper) devil-may-care American. private in the Legion, is ruthless with all women, taking them as they come, considering each but a passing pleasure to be tasted and thrown aside. His latest affair with the wife of an officer of the Legion is beginning to wane, when he meets Amy Jolly, a cabaret singer. Marlene Dietrich is the singer whose ravishing beauty has caused her to hate all men. She has suffered the pain of disillusionment. But there is a” strange, overpowering fascination in the soldier. There is another man. Adolphe Menjou, a citizen of the world, who lays a fortune, and love, and marriage at the feet of the woman.

MAJESTIC THEATRE. “BLIND WIVES.” Whether caveman tactics are an aid to marital happiness is the principle held up for the public's opinion in “Blind Wives,” which opened at the Majestic Theatre last night. In the case of a modern wife shown on the screen in this instance, interpreted by Genevieve Tobin, there can be little doubt but that she earned the knockout blow meted out to her by Conrad Nagel, a patient, “hen-pecked” hubby. Many husbands with five years’ experience will undoubtedly suggest a cheer for Conrad Nagel's sentiments and secretly wish that they could be sufficiently hard-hearted to deliver an oldfashioned “haymaker” when friend wife starts nagging about that bridge party or tea he’s been dodging for weeks. Conrad is most convincing as the long suffering husband -whose temper is finally ignited by the spark created by the family doctor's stating that domestic troubles could be simply solved by administering a spanking to his wife. Miss Tobin, who made her screen debut in “A Lady Surrenders,” covers herself with glory. The story leads one through the trials and tribulations of a young married couple, up to the point where the wife is going to Reno for a divorce. Here the husband knocks her out and and she discovers that she never did want to leave him or her children. Monroe Owsley gives a most convincing performance as the husband’s “best friend” who later starts an affair with the wife. Bertha Mann, also from the stage, and George Irving, both stand out in the supporting cast for their portrayals of the wife's sister and the law partner and god-father. Zasu Pitts, again portraying a comical maid, makes her part one of the high lights of the production. Others in the cast include Ilka Chase. Sidney Bracey and Slim Summerville. There will be a matinee today.

THEATRE ROYAL. FINE DOUBLE ATTRACTION. ;. A fine double programme opened at the Theatre Royal last night. An elaborate Chinese hieroglyph used by an unscrupulous gang of terrorists for the signing of threats early introduces mystery and a sense of dread into the talking film “Murder Will Out,” the first attraction. As the story, thrilling as any conceived by the famous Edgar Wallace, progresses, the strange characters become more and more associated with events that portend tragedy. The film is adapted from a story “The Purple Hieroglyph.” a much more apropriats title, and had a notable cast including Claude Allister (famous as Algy in "Three Live Ghosts”), Jack Mnlhall (an excellent hero), Lila Lee, Tully Marshall, and Noah Beery. Spectacular and eerie embellishments to the film are a Chinese sword dance accompanied by weird music, and one of the most eccentric funerals ever devised. The second feature, “Dancing Sweeties,” is unquestionably one of the finest comedy-dramas of modern youth that has been shown on the silver screen. Adapted by Gordon Rigby and Joseph A. Jackson from Harry Fried’s original story, this picture provides a new and novel plot which is packed with tense moments of humanly moving drama and affords fun of the finest fare. The handsome young giant Grant Withers, whose versatile ability has brought him wide-spread popularity, plays the part of Bill Cleaver, a smart-cracking youth who thinks more about winning trophy cups at dance halls than about his family. The feminine lead is taken by Sue Carol.