AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20931, 10 January 1938, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS

STIRRING DRAMA ‘ SLAVE SHIP AT STATE Surging with all the passion of the seven seas, with spectacle and drama that storms in epic seas over half the world as the last slaver ventures on its last desperate voyage, with captive lovers on a honeymoon ship ablaze with mutiny, the story of “Slave Ship,” Twentieth CenturyFox film starring Warner Baxter and Wallace Beery at present at the State, brings the mightiest of the sagas of the sea to the screen. Baxter’s role in “Slave Ship" presents him as r hardy sailorman, a two-fisted master of a furtive schooner engaged in the slaverunning trade. When he decided to withdraw from the slave trade . ul take his bride on a honeymoon cruise, the mate. Wallace Beery, conspires with the crew to mutiny, and the voyage is turned into a honeymoon of horror, with their lives constantly in danger. Elizabeth Allan, Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell and Joseph Schildkraut are featured in the film, for which Darryl F. Zanuck. Twentieth Century-Fox production chief, chose Tay Garnett as director. William Faulkner wrote the story, basing it on a novel by George S. King, and Nunally Johnson was associate producer.

“FOR VALOUR" AT REGENT LATEST TRAVERS FARC<£ The latest farce from the pen of Ben Travers. “For Valour.” is at present at the Regent Theatre. The inimitable comedians Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn have the leading roles, each appearing as himself and also as his son. Based on a life-long confidence trick carried out by Walls and his son. the story is one perfectly adapted to the talents of the principal actors, who carry through their dual roles with their usual facility and despatch. The climax which is contained in one scene, is perhaps the most laughable sequence in the picture for brevity and wit. Excellent and diverting features of the comedy apart from the fact that it is consistently funny, are the camera's ingenious exploitation of double exposure and the brilliantly clever character acting in double roles by Walls and Lynn, who represent two generations on the screen simultaneously. “For Valour” is the first film in which they have appeared together for over two years and it is fitting

that the reunion of the most popular comedy team in British films should take place in a picture that is notable for its originality and wit. The most remarkable feature of the film is the number of parts played at the same time by the two leading actors. Walls appears as an habitual crook, Doubleday, and as Doubleday’s son, who assumes the name of Charlie Chisholm. Lynn takes the parts of Major Pyke and the latter’s grandson. The resulting situations can only be described as wildly hilarious. Doubl * Bill For Wednesday The Regents offering for Wednesday is a double feature bill combining fun and mystery. “Marry the Girl” is a rollicking farce-comedy presented by an outstanding cast of talented and famed fun-makers. Heading the list of laugh-getters are Frank McHugh. Carol Hughes. Hugh Herbert who scored such a comedy triumph as himself and his three brothers in “Sing Me a Love Song,” Mary Boland. Mischa Auer who played the drunken count in “Three Smart Girls.” Allen Jenkins and Teddy Hart who each played a third of the title role in

“Three Men On a Horse.” Alan Mowbray. Hugh O'Connell and a host of others. The other feature is a movie based on the recent race around the globe by three reporters, two men and a girl. The story was written by the girl—Miss Dorothy Kilgallen of the King Feature Service. For the first time in film history, according to producers, we are shown action aboard a giant zeppelin crossing the Atlantic from New York to Germany. That is how Miss Kilgallen and her competitors started their trip. Glenda Farrell plavs the girl reporter in this movie. Plans are now open at Begg’s.

THREE FAMOUS STARS “LOVE ON THE RUN ’ AT MAJESTIC There is no doubt about the popularity of Clark Gable or Joan Crawford. and when they are paired in a story which gives great scope for their ability to squeeze the last ounce out of situations which are hilarious when properly handled the result must be high-class entertainment. That certainly is the verdict of “Love On the Run,” the M.-G.-M. feature which opened a season at the Majestic Theatre on Saturday. The role which Gable plays is not entirely new to him, since he was the reporter in “It Happened One Night” who came to the rescue of the runaway heiress, Claudette Colbert, when she was trying to avoid the marriage arranged for her. In “Love On the Run” he is a newspaperman again, and this time he is knight errant to Joan Crawford, who abandons her own wedding and runs into adventure after adventure, all of them screamingly funny, on the Continent. It is not an original story, but it is very well produced, excellently acted and lavishly mounted, and the finished article is one of the most outstanding comedy events of the year. W. S. Van Dyke is the director, and this film is almost a perfect example of the handling of sophistication and interludes of nonsense. Gable and Joan Crawford have been allowed to follow their own whims, and there is never a suggestion that the direction has imposed any check on thefr spontaneous gaiety. There are several complications to the development of the romance. Both Gable and Joan Crawford play right up to their reputations, and Franchot Tone compensates himself for the wrong end of the story by one of his Inest portrayals. He makes grand com'dy out of the rage with which he learns time after time of Gable double-crossing. Reginald Owen makes a capable and sinister chief spy, and there is a smoothness about the whole performance that makes it just delightful comedy.