AMUSEMENTS MAJESTIC THEATRE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21608, 20 March 1940, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS MAJESTIC THEATRE

“DODGE CITY'’ Errol Flynn, hero of some of the screen’s most thrilling adventures, is seen for the first time as a Western hero in “Dodge City," the huge Technicolour production which is showing at the Majestic. The turbulent days of the brawling west of the 1870’s is the colourful background against which Flynn projects his virile and adventurous personality. The entire action of the film takes place in the stopover of railroad men in Dodge City. It begins in the summer of 1872 when the Santa Fe’s first train puffed across the prairie from Wichita and entered the cattletown that was just a settlement, on the end of civilisation. It ends when the principal characters of the film, having carried out the empirebuilding responsibilities they assumed when they created Dodge City, head farther West for a new railroading adventure in Nevada. Appearing with Flynn in “Dodge City” is a notable cast that includes, Olivia de Haviliand, Bruce .Cabot, Ann Sheridan. Alati Hale, Frank McHugh and others. Michael Curtiz directed.

Deanna Durbin Deanna Dubin of the golden voice makes her first venture into screen romance in “First Love," which will open its Timaru season at the Majestic Theatre on Saturday. This is the sixth picture to be made by the young star, who has won universal popularity through her singing and her engaging personality, and it has been as eagerly awaited as her first, the memorable “Three Smart Girls.” Deanna was 14 when she made her first picture, and she has gone on from success to success. More mature now, she is more charming than ever, and her voice has taken on a fuller and richer quality, and the critics declare that it is capable of any lyric soprano selection ever written. The story is one telling of the happiness won by a modern Cinderella, Deanna having the role of an orphan girls who wins her way into the hearts of all around her and finds romance in much the same fashion as the Cinderella of tlie fairy story. Also in the cast are Eugene Pallette, Helen Parrish, Beatrice Joy, Robert Stack, and Lew Howard.

STATE THEATRE “RENO” The sensational career of a resourceful attorney and his vital influence on the future destiny of a now famous city, comprises the compelling theme of RKO Radio’s “Reno.” starring Richard Dix and Gail Patrick, showing for the last time to-night at the State. Directed by John Farrow, “Reno" features in the supporting cast such fine players as Anita Louise, Paul Cavanagh, Laura Hope Crews, and Louis Jean Heydt. Something delightfully new under the screen sun is the tuneful comedy. “That’s Right—You're Wrong.” Starring Kay Kyser with his orchestra and Adolphe Menjou, the picture breaks sharply away from the conventional boy-meets-girl success-story theme, and the story deals with the hilarious but futile efforts of a big Hollywood film company to make a picture with Kyser and his band, and in so doing it offers gay and laughter-packed entertainment. “Nurse Edith Cavell” A poignant, dramatic story based on one of the most stirring chapters of the World War, a brilliant star in her finest role, and a cast of 40 distinguished players, briefly sums up the entertainment ingredients of “Nurse Edith Cavell,” which has its initial showing at the State Theatre, Timaru. Miss Neagle breathes life Into the recreation of the famous English nurse, whose martyrdom has made an indellible imprint on the pages of world history. The fate that befell this great humanitarian is known to all, but the events leading up to that fateful dawn of October 12, 1915, when eight shots from a firing squad echoed around the world, have been chiefly buried in official war archives. The factual picturisation of these memorable incidents however, makes a human moving film document that for sheer drama and suspense ranks among the screen’s most memorable offerings. The story opens at the Berckendael Institute nursing home in Brussels, Belgium, which Edith Cavell managed prior to the World War. When the soldier son of a dear friend is captured by the Germans, escapes and takes refuge in Cavell’s hospital, the mother pleads with the nurse to aid him flee to neutral Holland—which she does. From this human gesture an idea is born, fostered by the intrepid nurse and three close women friends. Before long hundreds of refugee civilians and convalescent, soldiers are being spirited across the Dutch border, much to the consternation of counter-espionage operatives. But the day of reckoning is inevitable, and when it comes Edith Cavell and her faithful accomplices are arrested, brought to trial before a Prussian military court. The barbaric decision of that august tribunal is history, as well as its terrific repercussions among all nations.

REGENT THEATRE ”... ONE THIRD OF A NATION” Two of the screen’s leading dramatic players, Sylvia Sidney and Leif Erikson, play the chief roles in “ . . . against the vested and smug interests version of the sensational Broadway play, which will have its first local showing to-day at the Regent Theatre. Taking its title from President Roosevelt’s epoch-making second inaugural address, in which he said' “I find one-third of a nation illhoused, ill-clad and ill-nourished," the picture makes a bold and thrilling attack on America’s vicious slums and makes a heart-breaking plea for a better deal for the oppressed third of the population. As the principal character in the drama. Miss Sidney portrays a romantic and courageous daughter of the slums, who decides that the time has come to do something about conditions. In her battle against the veste dand smug interests she enlists her sweetheart. Erikson, who plays a wealthy but social-minded son of the upper classes. Made on Long Island, “. . . one Third of a Nation . . .” boasts many players prominent on the stage, who were appearing in Broadway productions while the film was being made a short distance away.

THEATRE ROYAL FINE DOUBLE PROGRAMME Warner Oland plays Charlie Chan for the fifteenth consecutive time in "Charlie Chan at the Olympics,” Twentieth Century-Fox picture showing at the Theatre Royal. The philosophical Chinese sleuth created by Earl Derr Biggers, the screen’s most

popular series character, takes the longest odds of his career in solving this puzzle of murder and international spies. Patrons will have an hour of real laughter with “Said O’Reilly to McNab,” a mirth provoking comedy featuring the famous stage comedians, Will Fyffe, a son of Scotia, and Will Mahoney, the Irish comedian, who has been seen on the Timaru stage. The supporting cast includes many players well known on the English stage.

PIPE BANDS EASTER CARNIVAL * Tne Timaru Pipe Band Executive has everything well under way for a very bright Easter in Timaru. On Saturday the City of Christchurch Pipe Band, the Canterbury Caledonian Pipe Band and the Christchurch Scottish Society’s Band will arrive by the first express. At 2 p.m. there will be a parade through the town to the Bay, where an entertainment will be conducted. At 7 p.m. there will be another entertainment on the Bay, followed by a dance in the Bay Hall. On Sunday at 1.15 p.m. there will be a parade of nine bands from the Railway Station. At 2 o’clock on the Caledonian grounds there will be staged one of the finest pipe band displays ever staged in New Zealand. Everything has been done to make it a success, and it should be a sight never to be forgotten. Buses will run to the grounds. Special trains will run from Dunedin J>nd Christchurch, and if sufficient support is offering there will be one from Fairlie. The executive has brought the entertainment within the reach of everybody. For the display on the Caledonian grounds the admission is 1/-, children 6d, car parking 1/-, and the dance 2/-.