AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20671, 9 March 1937, Page 9

AMUSEMENTS

STATE THEATRE “RAMONA’’ “Ramona'’ is drawing good houses it the State. In comparison with this newly perfected colour technique, the human eye is a raitfc amateur, forTechnicolour catches many variegated hues which the eye does not see at all, or at least registers only in a subdued tone. The colour cameramen who filmed “Ramona’ learned by experience not to trust to their eyes. They had dozens of light-meters and other instruments which denote with the finest precision how much, what kind, and what degree of colours are going to filter through the camera lens. The glorious beauty of the natural sylvan background for “Ramona,” however, did much to lessen the colour cameraman’s worries. Trees, grass, mountains, water, plants and shrubbery blend together exactly as they do naturally. For this reason, Executive Producer Sol M. Wurtzel,Director King and Associate Producer John Stone were right in their prediction that “Ramona’ would be acclaimed as the greatest example of colour photography ever presented on the screen. Loretta Young is featured as Ramona, with Don Ameche as Alessandro and Kent Taylor, Pauline Frederick, Jane Darwell, Katherine De Mille and John Carradine heading the huge supporting cast. Double Programme To-morrow a double programme will be screened headed by “Postal Inspector,” and “Crash Donovan.” Michael Loring’s role in “Postal Inspector” is that of a bank clerk. In the story he is the brother of the inspector, portrayed by Ricardo Cortez. It is Loring’s pleasant lot to be Patricia Ellis’s sweetheart in the film. He acquits himself, as bank clerk, sweetheart and actor, in a manner that rates high approval. Michael Loring has the looks and the ability to win him success and many admirers on the screen. Danger rides the highway in “Crash Donovan,” the thrilling Universal drama. The dynamic Jack Holt is starred in the role of a motorcycle officer of the California Highway Patrol. REGENT THEATRE “THE GAY DESPERADO” Nino Martini, ( world-famous singing star of radio, opera and films, comes to the Regent Theatre to-day in Pick-ford-Lasky’s sparkling romance, “The Gay Desperado.” Ida Lupino and Leo Carillo are featured in support of the handsome tenor. The second offering of the newly-formed Mary Pickford and Jesse L. Lasky producing combination, “The Gay Desperado,’ completely discards the conventional plot formula for films starring famous singers and tells a fast-moving romantic story of a gay and glamorous Mexican bandido who sings his way out of a succession of difficulties, saving his life and winning the girl by the magic of his voice. Among the numbers £ung by Martini in the film are “The World Is Mine Tonight,’ ’ written by Holt Marvel and George Posford, and already popular on the air, and “Adios Mi Tierra,’ another original number written by the singers’ accompanist, Miguel Sandoval. The Verdi aria, “Celeste Aida,” is the highlight of the operatic music, and three famous Mexican songs, “Cielita Lindo,’ “Lamento Gitano” and “Estrellita,” complete the star’s diversified repertc"” in the film. “The Gay Desperado” also marks the cinema debut of the “Trovadores Chinacos,” famous Mexican string orchestra, and “Senor Batista,” Mexico’s greatest guitar payer. MAJESTIC THEATRE “PALM SPRINGS” To-night will conclude the very successful season of “His Brother's Wife,” featuring Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck. The gay life of Palm Springs, playground of West Coast millionaires and cinema stars, forms the setting of Paramount’s “Palm Springs,” commencing its season to-morrow. The name of Palm Springs has become synonymous with the Riviera, the Lido, and other world spots as the ultimate in luxurious idlign. Like an oasis out of the Arabian Nights, this modern community is the winter stamping ground of film stars, industrial magnates, diplomats, social leaders and cosmopolites from everywhere. Hotels, dude ranches, homes of motion picture notables and millionaires, and pleasure haunts dot the sands everywhere. “Palm Springs,” a semi-musical production, offers in the stellar roles Prances Langford, Sir Guy Standing, Smith Ballew, Spring Byington and E. E. Clive. This is the first time that the inside story of Palm Springs has been told on the screen.

“Toll of the Road” also shows as a supporting featurette. THEATRE ROYAL CONECSSION NIGHT The concession night programme tonight at the Theatre Royal gives promise of being quite up to standard, and that is very high. In “The Daring Young 1,.1an” James Dunn goes to jail, but the Fox Film actor will not be alone in his incarceration, however, as Mae Clarke, Warren Hymer .Sidney Toler, Jack La Rue, Raymond Hatton and other well-known screen players will accompany him; at least for part of his sentence. Since Dunn and the other prisoners feel only for the sake of art, their fanciers ne*' I not worry over their imprisonment. It is all for a hilarious sequence in this feature, a romantic comedy of newspaper life. Dunn’s jail-going is done on the order of his editor, who wants to get an “inside story” on what is really going on within the prison walls. The new Gaumont-British film, “The Clairvoyant,” is the associate attraction and one of the most v- usual films of its kind yet released. Brimful of dramatic situations, the film deals with a fake clairvoyant, who, while presenting a music-hall .act actually becomes clairvoyant. The cast is headed by Claude Rains, Fay Wrav and Jane Baxter. The programme commences at|7.45.