ENTERTAINMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 273, 18 November 1943, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

TO-DAY’S PROGRAMMES OPERA HOUSE “Joan of Paris” will be finally screened at the Opera House to-day. “First of the Few.” Hailed as one o’f the greatest zlms of all time. “First of the Few,” starring Leslie Howard and David Niven, will be screened at the Opera House to-morrow. It is an ambitiously planned pictorial biography of the late J. R. Mitchell, designer of the “Spitfire,” the man wnose amazing loresight and great aeronautical skill gained for Britain the Schneider Trophy, and contributed so much to the R.A.F. Victory in the cuttle for Britain in 1940. Unable to get special release for Laurence Olivier from the Army to play the role of Mitchell, Howard is enacting the part nimseli, and he gives his most polished performance. After two years’ absence from the screen because ot war duties, David Niven makes his return to pictures as "Crisp,” test pilot and R.A.F. officer, and gives Leslie Howard lull support in tnis great film as co-star. Playing the pare of “Mrs. Mitchell," is Rosamund John, who is London born, and 27 years old. Roland Culver is another film gem in the picture and his talent has advanced his claims to stardom. Miss Leslie Howard, the 17-year-old daughter of the producer, makes her acting debut as a nurse irf the film. In making this picture Leslie Howard has made one that fits the mood of the moment.

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“True to the Army” will have Its final screening at the Majestic Theatre to-day. “White Cargo.” Featuring Hedy Lamarr as "Tondalayo” and Walter Pidgeon, the dramatic film “White Cargo” will be screened to-morrow. It is a story dealing with the moist, steaming tropics, where a group of white men oversee a rubber plantation. Pidgeon is Witzel, sullen and hard-bitten overseer. Bramwell Fletcher plays his assistant who deteriorates in the heat and brutality ot the jungles. Richard Carlson plays a young executive sent to replace Fletcher, and Tondelayo's charms captivate him, in spite of Fidgeon’s warnings. Finally the young assistant overseer marries Tondelayo, precipitating a dramatic, primitive situation. Frank Morgan plays the bibulous but kindly old doctor in the jungle station, and Henry O'Neill a clergyman in the settlement. Hedy Lamarr was never moer exotic than as the dark-skinned Tondelayo, and Pidgeon handles his role with rugged strength. Carlson as the romantic young assistant is appealing, and wins great sympathy when his “bride” attempts to poison him. Richard Thorpe directed the picture with subtlety and skill.

REGENT THEATRE

Solid entertainment is contained in "Gambling Daughters” at the Regent Theatre, with Cecilia Parker and Roger Pryor in the leading roles. When Gale Storm and Janet Shaw discover “Angels Roost,” they are persuaded to try their luck in the gaming rooms by Rogen 1 Pryor, suave gang lieutenant, upon orders of a mysterious higher-up. Only Pryor and one other man know the real identity of the boss, and all the audience is nermitted to see of him is the back of his hand as he crushes the petals of a flower. That habit causes his downfall later in the film, when Gale, who has been forced to steal the family jewels to make good her gambling losses, recognises the movement in a hitherto totally unsuspected character, and denounces him. "Boogie Man” is the associate film.

DUCHESS THEATRE

Clarence Mulford's "Secret of the Wastelands,” starring William Boyd, is the major film at the Duchess Theatre. The associated feature is "Disputed Passage," with Dorothy Lamour in the Stella role.