MAJESTIC THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 280, 25 November 1937, Page 9

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS.” “Captains Courageous,” Rudyard Kipling’s tale of the heroic Gloucester fishermen and the boy whom they regenerated through ideals of courage and humanity, concludes its season at the Majestic Theatre to-morrow. With a background against the ever-chang-ing moods of the ocean, against the striking, tall-masted fishing schooners showing step by step the fascinating and dangerous work of the Gloucester fishermen, and permeated with thrill after thrill from the moment its boy hero falls from the deck of an ocean liner to be picked up by a Portuguese fisherman, to the final race between two ships who want to be the first to return to port with the catch, the Kipling tale unfolds its narrative of a spoiled millionaire's son who is almost against his will taught a new way of life and a new respect for his fellowmen with a power and tenderness that easily ranks “Captains Courageous” as one of the most distinguished photoplays of this year. Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, and Lionel Barrymore are in the cast. “A Day at the Races.” The majority of Wanganui theatregoers will agree that the latest Marx brothers film, “A Day at the Races,” screening on Saturday at the Majestic Theatre, is the best picture that the irrepressible trio have been seen in. From start to finish it is screamingly funny, and the story gives full rein to the peculiar talents of the unquenchable three. Groucho is a horse doctor whose charm is so great that he gets a job as chief surgeon at a sanatorium. Chico has a number of jobs organised for himself, a few of which are bell-boy, race-track tout, and icecream salesman. Harpo, the most noisily silent actor on the screen, is a jockey, and a very good one, except that he never follows instructions when told to lose a race. The three are thrown together fortuitously with the common aims of dodging the sherriff and of saving the sanatorium for its beautiful owner, Maureen O’Sullivan. To this end, they almost succeed in wrecking the place and a perfectly good race-track. Allan Jones sings several numbers.