REGENT’S “LINE-UP”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 280, 29 November 1935, Page 10

REGENT’S “LINE-UP”

( FILMS FOR NEW SEASON. WILLIAMSON ANNOUNCEMENT. I Arrangements have been made which, it is claimed, will ensure that a . very large selection of the world’s! ■ best films will be screened in coming | ’ months at the theatres operated i i throughout New Zealand by the J. 0. I ; Williamson Picture Corporation Ltd. ! This announcement was made during ‘ i the week by Mr. Beaumont Smith, . managing director of the company. As a result of these arrangements, said Mr. Smith, his firm, which this • , year had presented such outstanding I attractions as “The Scarlet Pimper- | ; nel,” “Sanders of the River,” and , “Blossom Time,” would next year be 1 in a position to present e series of ‘ even greater entertainme.it? thn ; . leading studios of Englard and . America. The film companies whose [ j product would be shown throughout

New Zealand by J. C. Williamson’s included United Artists, Paramount, British Empire Films, and the newly-! formed General Film Distributors Ltd., | under the directorship of Mr. C. M. Woolf. Mr. Smith explained that General Film Distributors Ltd. was virtually an organisation based on the same principles as United Artists, namely a central distributing company for a selected group of prominent British producers. “The formation of this organisation represents probably the most important development in the history of British film production,” he said. “It is designed to meet the pre-sent-day demand for first-class pictures in which both stories and stars are of international appeal.” The list of films, stars and directors was too long and imposing to do anything but choose from at random, continued Mr. Smith. Among early attractions for the Williamson theatres would be Cecil B. De Mille’s magnificent spectacle for Paramount, “The Crusades”; Richard Tauber’s new British triump, “Heart’s Delight”; “Modern Times,” the Charlie Chaplin comedy which has been so long awaited; two H. G. Wells stories produced by the great Alexander Korda for London Films, “Things to Come” and “The Man Who Worked Miracles” (starring Roland Young); and “The Ghost Goes West,” a highly original comedy-drama starring Robert (“Monte Cristo”) IDonat. Charles Laughton is making “Cyrano de Bergerac” for Korda; David O. Selznick will star Freddie Bartholomew, of “David Copperfield” fame, in a film of “Little Lord Fauntleroy”; Eddie Cantor’s new musical film is “Shoot the Chutes”; Korda will film Mary Borden’s “The King of the Jews” as his first all-col-our production; Gary Cooper and Ann i Harding will be seen in “Peter Ibbetson”; Margaret Sullavan in “So Red the Rose”; and John Boles in “Rosel of the Rancho.” Other notable at-j tractions from Parmount include the ( operas “Carmen” and “Cavalleria Rusticana” in colour; Kipling’s “The Light that Failed,” starring Gary Cooper; and “The Last Outpost” (described as another “Bengal Lancer”). Twenty-five super-productions, with a minimum expenditure of £BO,OOO on each, will be forthcoming from General Film Distributors Ltd. Internationally renowned stars already under contract with this company are: Leslie Howard, Robert Donat, Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Jack Buchanan, Tom Walls, Ralph Lynn, Fay Wray, Anna Sten, Elissa Landi, Bing Crosby, Anna Neagle, Yvonne Arnaud, Sydney Howard, Helen Vinson, and Henry Wilcoxon. The subjects to be filmed include: “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (Leslie Howard); “The Blue Lagoon”; “Pagliacci” (Richard Tauber); “The Lady of the Camellias” (Clive Brook, Ann Harding); “The Marriage of Corbal” (by Rafael Saoitini); and “When Knights Were Bold” (Jack Buchanan). British Empire Films will also distribute in New Zealand the film versions of the great Shakespearean plays, “Twelfth Night” and “The Tempest.” Cinesound will make at least three big Australian films, including “The Thoroughbred” (starring the Hollywood actress, Helen Twelvetrees) and Rolf Boldrewood’s “Robbery Under Arms.” “In addition there will be Ronald Colman films released by United Artists; ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ ‘Dodsworth), ‘lnvitation to the Waltz,’ ‘Natacha’; a feature-length Walt (Disney cartoon, and Mickey Mouse cartoons in colour. One could go on extending to great length the wonderful list of attractions secured for screening by the J. C. Williamson Picture Corporation in coming months,” concluded Mr. Smith. “But I think enough have been quoted to let theatregoers know where a large proportion of the best screen entertainment of 1936 will be seen.”