ENTERTAINMENTS

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3181, 24 May 1932, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

EMPIRE THEATRE. TO-NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. " FIVE AND TEN." Skyscraper banquets,, bachelor apartments, moonlight trysts, zooming airplanes, charity bazaars, private trains, steamships and even Fifth Avenue busses supply the kaleidoscopic backgrounds for " Five and Ten," Marion Davies' new Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer starring picture, whien opens at the Empire Theatre to-nignt. Modern, daring,' hilarious and yet intensely dramatic, the Fannie Hurstnovel offers the star something entirely new by way of characterisation. Miss Davies, as Jennifer, daughter of the five-and-leo-cent-store magnate, is a different Marion Davies than we have known on the screen in the past. She ia a more convincing and repressed person that we had been led to believe. Indeed, her excursion into the realm of drama is easily the outstanding achievement of her career—and to this reviewer she has been without rival to iarce comedy honours. Richard Bennett and Irene Rich play the parent roles and Kent Douglass, as the brother, rounds out the Rarick family, of which Jennifer is prime factor. Jennifer, setting her cap to win the young society architect, chooses the wrong weapon with which to combat her rival. By employing her fathers money in the fight her motives are misunderstood and she loses. Tnero is later complication, however, which brings them back together, although under rather compromising circumstances. Miss Davies has never appeared to so excellent advantage as she does in this production. She appears perfectly at home in her dramatic characterisation and she evokes a genuine sympathy in her distress. Included in the splendid supporting cast are Mary Duncan, Lee Beranger, Arthur Housman, George Irving, Halliwell Hobbs, Charles Giblyn, Henry Armetta and Ruth Selwyn. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. " SPLINTERS IN THE NAVY." For sheer buffoonery and robust knockabout farce few English comedies have surpassed " Splinters in the Navy," the naval burlesque which will be screened at the Empire Theatre on Thursday and Friday. From the opening scene there is no halt in the pace of this riotously funny film. One critic has suggested that the picture would have been more appropriately titled " Sydney Howard in the Navy." Certainly, l the forlorn comedian of the original " Splinters," and lan Hay's " Tilly of Bloomsbury," with his escapades and elephantine antics in the boxing ring, is the mainstay of the production, but then, every other member of the famous wartime concert party is a comedian of infinite resource. There is the burly Alf. Goddard, who makes an admirable foil for the defiant timidity of the leading character, in the part of the vindictive pugilist regarded with nervous terror by the remainder of the battleship's personnel. Fred Bentley, Lew Lake, Hal. Jones and Reg Stone and the inimitable " beauty ballet" are others who add to the gaiety. But it is undoubtedly Sydney Howard who dominates the humour from first to last. He is. extremely amusing and uses his extraordinary hands with the most hilarious results. There have been uproariously funny boxing bouts in films before, but few can compare with that in which Mr Howard, as the helpless Joe Crabbs, meets the naval champion (Mr Goddard). There is a wellchosen selection of supporting films. Altogether the programme presents ideal entertainment. REGENT THEATRE. "THE CAT CREEPS." TO-NIGHT AND TO-MORROW. Manager Tombs, of the Regent Theatre, where the all talking screen mystery, "The Gat Creeps," is to be shown to-night and to-morrow, has issued an appeal to those who have already seen the picture, asking them not to reveal to their friends any hint of the plot's solution. "Much of the pleasure of witnessing a motion picture of this type," says Mr Tombs, "lies in the inability of the audience to fathom the mystery and their consequent interest in trying to arrive at a solution. This Universal production is a remarkable success as a mystery stor]y, and its ending furnishes a most startling surprise. So let your friends see for themselves how the baffling story is brought to a conclusion, and don't spoil their complete enjoyment of the picture." "The Cat Creeps," adapted from the stage thriller, "The Cat and the Canary," has in its cast such favourite artists as Raymond Hackett, Neil Hamilton, Lilyan Tashman, Jean Hersholt and Montagu Love. THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. I- ANN HARDING'S "DEVOTION." Enthusiasm and regrets are present in almost equal parts in Ann Harding's attitude toward " Devotion," the picture in which she is now being starred by R.K.O. Pathe, and which is coming to the Regent Theatre on Thursday next. The enthusiasm is caused by the story, which the blonde star heartily approves. In fact, it was upon Miss Harding's own urging that R.K.O. Pathe executives became interested in " A Little Flat in the Temple," the novel by Pamela Wynne on which it is based. The whimsical comedy and Barriesque lightness of the story appealed so thoroughly to Ann that she felt she could not be happy until she had brought it to the screen. However, every rose has its prickly addenda. The thorn in this case, according to Miss Harding, is the fact that the picture was made in the midst of one of California's hottest spells of unusual weather. Since she represents a young girl masquerading as a middle-aged nurse, to be near the man she loves, Miss Harding

was obliged to wear heavy garments of bombazine and serge during a certain portion of the story. Her feet were encased in the heaviest of " sensible " brogues. And, of course, the hot incandescents did nothing to render the star more comfortable. ' And the worst of it is," Miss Harding sighs, "that I can't shift the blame to a soul since I was so anxious to do the story. However, I still maintain that it will be excellent screen entertainment, so perhaps I'll have my reward in the pleasure the picture will give others." Robert MiHon directed Miss Harding in "Devotion," in which Leslie Howard and Robert Williams share leading man honours. Among the notable cast are 0. P. Heggie, Louise Closser Hale, Dudley Digges and others.