AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21086, 12 July 1938, Page 9

AMUSEMENTS

REGENT THEATRE GRAND IRISH STORY A vigorous, straight-forward melodrama, presenting without bias or provocation, a vivid, exciting and thrilling portrait of life in Ireland during the hectic rebellion days of 1920, describes “Ourselves Alone.” to be presented by Associated Distributors at the Regent Theatre, to-day. The story tells of how John Hannay, a stern, ruthless commandant of the Irish Constabulary, is engaged to Maureen Elliott, an Irish girl, but has a rival in Guy Wiltshire, his intelligence officer. Both are concentrating with all their power on the

apprehension of a mysterious rebel leader known as Nick O’Dea, and each is unaware that their man is really Maureen’s brother—Terry Elliott. Eventually, Terry is cornered, and Wiltshire is left with no alternative than to kill him. but when Hannay realises that it I is Wiltshire whom Maureen really loves, i he nobly shoulders the blame, thereby I allowing true romance to emerge from j stark tragedy. Sides are never taken — j the insurgents as well as the Black | and Tans, present their cases clearly, ! the clash being amplified to moving and thrilling dimensions by perfectly balanced treatment. From a dark page i in Ireland’s and England’s history i comes to the screen first-rate melo- i drama. “Hitch Hike Lady” on the same programme is an hilarious comedy that features Arthur Treacher and Alison Skipworth. MAJESTIC THEATRE “MARIE WALEWSKA” Humanising history has been met with all the resources of a major studio in the filming of Marie Walewska, the story of Napoleon ano the Polish countess who was his great love, in which Greta Garbo enacts the tragic Marie and Charles Boyer the Emperor, forced to desert her to marry a Hapsburg princess for reasons of state. The film is at the Majestic. Research preliminary to the picture was extensive. Not only were locales and happenings reproduced and historical characters recreated by the wizardry of new make-up inventions, but all the personal mannerisms of the characters were studied. Settings were constructed from research that took Charles Whittaker, technical expert, to Europe. The palace and ballroom of Prince Joseph Poniatowski, Polish patriot, in Warsaw, were built to scale. Equally massive was the reproduction of Castle Finckenstein in Prussia where Napoleon and Marie Walewska lived, and where diplomats conferred on the proposed reapportionment of Europe.

“ Angel ” “Angel,” the Paramount picture which will open at the Majestic tomorrow, brings to the screen a new director-star combination for which the screen has been waiting for a long time. The delicate, ethereal beauty of Marlene Dietrich and the light, whimsical directorial touch of Ernst Lubitsch make a compound that brings out a high variety of film entertainment. The production is handsome and lavish, the acting of Miss Dietrich, Herbert Marshall and Melvyn Douglas all that anyone could ask, and the work of the supporting cast is splendid. It’s

“swell Lubitsch” and its “swell Dietrich.” Herbert Marshall plays the part of an absorbed diplomat, who gives all his time and attention to political problems to the exclusion of his wife, Marlene Dietrich, who resents his lack of attention to her. She finally leaves her home to make a quiet trip to Paris, in search of some adventure to relieve the drabness of her usual life. In Paris she meets Melvyn Douglas; the two fall in love.

STATE THEATRE “HAWAII CALLS” The motion picture treat of the season is showing at the State. Tire new screen-play is “Hawaii Calls,” Bobby Breen’s musical starring vehicle, filmed in the Pacific paradise for RK.O Radio. Bobby’s remarkable voice is heard in several new song hits, in a tuneful picture which features the luxuriant beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. The cast includes Irvin .5. Cobb. Gloria Holden, Ned Sparks, Warren Hull and many others. It is the best picture of Bobby Breen’s career, filled with sweet music, hilarious comedy and exciting adventures. THEATRE ROYAL SPECIAL DOUBLE PROGRAMME Charles Ruggles appears as a sleepwalking husband, suspected of being a somnambulistic “Tiger Man” in his latest uproarious farce with Mary Boland in “Early to Bed,” coming to the Theatre Royal to-night. The story, unique in both plot and treatment, introduces the screen’s funniest pair as an engaged couple who have deferred their marriage for twenty years while Mary dreams of Niagara Falls and

Charlie, twenty-six years a clerk in a glass-eye firm, dreams of future success. A murder and jewel robbery at the sanatorium, with Ruggles suspected as the thief and murderer, lead to riotous developments. With the stars appear George Barbier, Gail Patrick, Lucien Littlefield, Robert McWade and a host of other fine supporting players. Eight outstanding film favourites are featured in “The Preview Murder Mystery.” exciting melodrama. They are Reginald Denny, Frances Drake, Gail Patrick, Rod Laßoque, George Barbier, lan Keith, Conway Tearle and Jack Mulhall.