IN EARLY CALIFORNIA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 254, 27 October 1938, Page 3

IN EARLY CALIFORNIA

“GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST” Adapted from lhe famous play by! David Belasco, the Metro-Goldwyn- i Mayer production "Girl of the Golden ! West,” will be presented at the Ma-1 jestic Theatre on Saturday of next; week. The story has its setting in 1 California of last century, when the) State was still largely inhabited by! people of Spanish descent. Jeanette’ MacDonald appears as the owner of a j dance-hall and saloon in a small min-1 ing town. While journeying to Mon-j tercy, the seat of Government, her I coach is held up by bandits led Dy ! their chief Ramerez (Nelson Eddy). I The coach is allowed to proceen or. its way but Ramerez becomes romantically interested in its occupant and! follows her to Monterey. Disguised ' the bandit attends the Governor’s bal’ : and furthers his romance before, he is | forced to make a hurried escape ' . her j he is recognised. The story continue.; with his attempts to meet the girl and ! at the same time elude capture by the ■ sheriff. Richard Arlen turned down Colum-; bia’s race-track film, “Thoroughbred. ’ I because he did not want to co-star with a horse.

Huge Python’s Attempt. Believe it or not. a python can climb lhe anchor chain of a ship. Clyde Elliott, producer-director of Paramount’s animal-adventure picture. "Booloo,” made in the Malayan jungle and environs, is authority for i? assertion and the members of his company, including Colin Tapley, leading man, .substantiate it. They actually saw a 2()-foot python corkscrew his way up a chain while scenes were being made aboard a British ooat in Singapore harbour. "We were shooting on the stern of the s.s. Ranchi when I was startled by a yell from Tapley. He had looked over lhe rail and seen the huge snake slowly moving up lhe chain," declared Elliott. “The members of the hip’s crew rushed in and waited until the python’s head appeared above the level of the rail. They quickly dispatched the reptile with heavy iron bar.-. The snake came from a marsh adjoining the dock that was being filled in by English engineers.” "Eooloo” gives Colin Tapley, of Dunedin, his first big opportunity. He lis cast in the leading role and is the o«nly white man in the cast. He spent I six months of 1937 in Malaya with ' Lie production unit and his contract I with Paramount necessitated his I prompt return to Hollywood despite his wishes to come down to New Zealand to see his relatives and friends.