ENTERTAINMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 258, 1 November 1932, Page 11

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE "SKY DEVILS." 4 ‘One good laugh after another,” aptly describes 44 Sky Devils,” showing finally to-day at the Majestic Theatre. Broad humour, quick quips and humorous situations follow one another in rapid sequence, and are often 44decidedly irregular.” As the very name of the film denotes, tho story deals with American aviators during the war. But it is not just another war story with the usual war scenes, mud, bombs and shells. On the other hand the future “aces” (at all times asses) are first seen on a popular beach posing as lifeguards, despite the fact that neither can swim. The usual accident occurs and finds the pair decidedly out of place, but by cool nerve they manage to collect the laurels and fall foul of their future sergeant. But a ‘‘onchorso army” has no appeal for them and their ambitions lead them to higher planes and more trouble, chiefly feminine. “Night Court” The intensely dramatic story of an innocent girl who is sent to prison because she has unwittingly come into possession of incriminating evidence against an unscrupulous judge, is told in 44 Night Court,” which opens at the Majestic Theatre to-morrow afternoon. Phillip Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt head the impressive cast. Huston plays the unscrupulous jurist who presents a respectable side to the public, but shows quite another to his nefarious associates. Holmes is seen as a taxi driver whose home is undermined by the machinations of the crooked magistrate, but who ultimately brings the dishonest judge before his own bar of justice. Miss Pago enacts the chauffeur’s wife who is sent to prison to seal her lips from judicial investigators. RONA OLSEN LECTURES Rona Olsen, who is on a world-lecture tour, will give a series of public lectures on Christian Psychology. She will open her season in Wanganui to-morrow night at the Museum Hal] at 8 o’clock. The subject will be 4 4 Christian Psychology—What it Means to the Individual.”

GRAND THEATRE "THE DEVIL TO PAY." An utterly charming, wholly delightful entertainment is now at the Grand Theatre, when that scren aristocrat, Ronald Colman, appears in United Artists’ latest production, 44 The Devil to Pay.” This is Frederick Lonsdale’s first direct contribution to the screen written specially for his friend, Ronnie. Lonsdale is well known as the author of 4 ‘The Last of Mrs. Cheyney,” “On Approval,” and other delightful comedies but these were written direct for the stage and subsequently adapted for the screen. 4 4 The Devil to Pay” is briskly paced, suavely directed, admirably enacted, the Frederick Lonsdale vehicle is all that may be asked in metropolitan film fare. It is a triumph for all associated with it, and may be held up to all traducers of the cinema as a superb example of how a photoplay may eclipse most stage vehicles of any season—and hold its own with the smartest hits in the theatre. The story concerns the whimsical younger son of a British nobleman—- , one of those ever-so-attractive black I sheep who are perfectly useless social ornaments, serving no purpose in life, save, perhaps, to keep all with whom they come in contact interested, amused, indignant by turns. It isn’t the story that makes the picture so much as it is the manner in which it is told, and tho very pleasing way in which each character is portrayed. A STRIKING PLAY. 4 4 THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET. In a London home, No. 50 Wimpole street, early in the second half of the forties, was Elizabeth Barrett. Few friends, herself even, could venture to hope for a single one of those springs which she previsioned so longingly. But fate in the person of Robert Browning intervened. He broke through all the barriers; carried off his prize, secretly married her. and together they hurried off to Italy. The true story of this, one of the greatest romances and love stories of the world, is told in 4 The Barretts of Wimpole Street,’ which will be produced at the Opera House on Wednesday, November 2, bv a new English 'company headed by the brilliant young London star, Margaret Rawlings, who has definitely taken her place with tho finest actresses of the day. Other noted artists making their first appearance in New Zealand are E. Bellonden Clarke, who takes the part of Elizabeth’s father, Harry K. Barnes, who plays the part, of Robert Browning, Mary Cobb, and Gabriel Toyne. The cast also includes Harvey Adams, Kenneth Brampton, Kathleen Goodal, Mary MacGregor, Noel Boyd, John Wood, Michael Hagen, and Richard Fair.

While the play is being performed the audience is transported back to mid-Victorian days. Lighting effects are cleverly blended to create an atmosphere in keeping with the play. Footlights are discarded and a natural light is thrown from above the stage. In ono scene (by the aid of dimmers) one sees the day stealing into night as the patient invalid Elizabeth and her faithful spaniel, 4 4 Flush,” silently watch the shadows fall—a poignant, pathetic picture. 44 The Barretts of Wimpole Street” is a play, and it has not yet been produced in picture form. It ran for two years at tho Queen’s Theatre, London, and for a similar term at the Belasco Theatre, New York. The box plan opens at tho Bristol to-mor-row, and other particulars arc advertised.

REGENT THEATRE "THE WOMAN IN BOOM 13” If Elissa Landi’s previous pictures had failed to earn her an international reputation, her interpretation of an exceedingly difficult role in this adoption of the stage play would in itself be sufficient to stamp her as an actress of outstanding ability. In this story Miss Landi enacts the role of a young wife who refuses to submerge her identity in order to further the political aspirations of an ambitious husband, and, by securing a divorce, at once sounds the death knell of his hopesand incurs his active displeasure. An opportunity for revenge presents itself some months after a happy second marriage, by reason of her association with a man whose fame as a singer is equalled only by his reputation as a philanderer. Unjust suspicions are engendered in the minds of a wellmeaning father-in-law and a meddling uncle, and by the irony of fate, the young wife’s first husband is called in to obtain evidence that will prove her unfaithfulness. Revelling in this opportunity of spoiling the happiness of the young couple, he instals dictaphones in the apartments of tho singer, and, with the stage al) set foi a denouement, summons the husband to bo present at the revelations to fol low thick and fast. “The World and the Flesh” “The World and the Flesh,” at the Regent Theatre to-morrow, deals in a striking way with some episodes of the Russian Revolution. As a revolutionary sea captain, George Bancroft, who has a part that fits him to perfection —a rollicking seaman, rough of exterior and used to handling men, yet not slow to take a leading part in affairs of the heart. There are some splendid action scenes, which go to complete an excellent picture of its kind. Miriam Hopkins plays the leading feminine role. It is a gusty adventure story of the hectic days during the Russian Revolution, and it bristles with tense dramatic thrills, providing the ebullient Bancroft with his most sensational characterisation since 4 4 The Mighty,” according to critics. Bancroft is seen as the domineering sea captani, whose rough-and-ready sailor crew worship him. At the outbreak of tho revolution they take an active part in the onslaught upon the aristocrats. Bursting in on a group of fleeing nobles who are feasting at an inn in a seacoast town, they make the fugitives their captives. But a counterattack by loyal Cossacks turns the tide and Bancroft, with three of his men, become prisoners. With Miriam Hopkins, a peasant girl who has long been living a life of luxury with the aristocrats, the revolutionaries are taken aboard the ship for transportation to a city that is still loyal to the government. In a new outbreak aboard ship, Bancroft and his men take over the vessel and steer it on a course to Theodosia, a town in the hands of the revolutionists. The nobles, now Bancroft’s captives, persuade Miriam to exercise her feminine charms on Bancroft so that, while she plays Delilah, they can curb the power of this revolutionary Samson. But the plan does not work out as they scheme it. Bancroft falls in love with Miriam—and she finds herself warming up to him, genuinely. When Miriam is threatened with execution by the town’s tribunal, Bancroft, by a ruse, effects her release. By so doing, he is captured himself and doomed to hang—but to tell the whole story and the very interesting end would spoil tho show for patrons of the Regent Theatre.