AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20929, 7 January 1938, Page 11

AMUSEMENTS

“MIDNIGHT MADONNA" AT REGENT SPLENDID CHILD STAR A new child actress maKes her first appearance on the screen in “Midnight Madonna,” the film which is at the head of the programme to be presented finally to-day at the Regent. This is Kitty Clancy, a four-year-old with the histrionic talent of an experienced player and all the charm of youth. In the role of the child’s mother is the actress Mady Correll, also a new comer, from the legitimate stage in New York. She makes an appealing character of the mother struggling for the possession of her child in the fact of a widesepread scandal against her good name. Also in the picture is the experienced actor Warren William. “100 MEN AND A GIRL” PINAL SCREENING AT MAJESTIC It must have been fairly obvious that Deanna Durbin’s sensational performance in “Three Smart Girls” was no mere flash in the pan, but if any doubt has existed of her ability to repeat her success it is dispelled by her second picture, “100 Men and a Girl,” the Universal production which will close tonight at the Majestic. “Love On the Run”

For the first time since their memorable success in “Dancing Lady,” Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone are together again in “Love on the Run,” which opens to-morrow. There is more comedy than drama in this story, which shows Joan Crawford as Sally Parker, an American heiress, and Clark Gable and Franchot Tone as Michael Anthony and Barnabas Pells respectively, two rival European correspondents for American newspapers. The fun starts when Anthony upsets at the last moment, the projected marriage of the American heiress with a pompous nobleman. “Love on the Run” is an entertaining development in the cycle of comedy started by “My Man Godfrey.” It is gay, carefree, and irresponsible, but with a foundation of solid and capable acting. It is the work of the three principals that will impress most filmgoers, and in this respect it can be said that, individually and collectively, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone have never been better. The supporting programme will include a bright Pete Smith speciality “Wanted a Master..” The story of a dog that will appeal to everyone. A new March of Time, a Clnesaund News, and a Coloured Revue which introduces several Hollywood stars.

“SLAVE SHIP” AT STATE STIRRING SEA DRAMA Twentieth Century-Fox’s spectacular production of the year, “Slave Ship” which opens to-day at the State, costars Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery in a pulsing tale of the slave-trading era, with Elizabeth Allan and Mickey Rooney among those on the boat as, with decks reddened by mutiny, it roams the seas on its final fury-racked volaye. In the most colourful role of a colourful career, Warner Baxter plays Captain Jim Lovett, romantic scourge of two seas, who defies the navies of the world, is betrayed by a shipmate, and fights at last for love in the greatest sea adventure of them all. Wallace Beery whose long list of shipboard roles reads like a veritable history of the salt-water cinema, is in a fine role that presents him as the villainous mate of the slaver—big-fisted, bullheaded, genial, and treacherous to his dying breath, one minute a roaring beast, the next a gentle child; friend and foe alike to the captain he serves—and betrays. "Slave Ship” traces the tempestuous career of a swift bark engaged in the slave trade, and its courageous captain, Warner Baxter, who planned to retire from “blackbirding” to settle down to a new life with his young bride, Elizabeth Allan. As they sail on Baxter’s boat on the honeymoon cruise which is to mark the end of its days as a slaver, they find that they have been betrayed by the mate, Wallace Beery, and the crew, avid for more slaving profits. The honeymoon cruise is turned into a voyage in which they are continually brought face to face with danger and death. Sought by the navies of every nation, and torn by mutiny aboard, the slave ship sails on through adventures on the high seas and along the African coast, and It is a dramatic climax which clears the future for the captive couple and sends the ill-fated slaver to its ominous destiny.

THEATRE ROYAL BIG WEEK-END SPECIALS The romantic comedy drama, Universal’s “That’s My Story,” which opens at the Theatre Royal, describes the adventures of a reporter who prides himself on his nose for news until he sticks his beak into a hornet’s nest of trouble. The narrative brings to the screen the fierce rivalries of news reporters, as well as the humorous situations into which some of their assignments thrust them. The picture details the efforts of newspapermen to interview a beautiful torch singer, accused of killing a millionaire playboy. The sheriff, hating all newspapers and reporters? keeps them away from the bird In the gilded calaboose. Breath-taking drama of the red-blooded action type highlights Columbia’s “Outlaws of the Orient,” starring Jack Holt and with Mae Clarke in the featured feminine role. Holt’s performance, as usual, is forthright and convincing. It will please all his old fans and should give him many more admirers. Miss Clarke is pretty and effective, and James Bush, as Holt's younger brother, is perfectly cast and does very well in a truly difficult role. Comedy is supplied by Ray Walker, who plays an airplane pilot.