ENTERTAINMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 60, 11 March 1944, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

TO-DAY’S PROGRAMMES OPERA HOUSE. Hailed as one of the best films of the year, 2th. Century-Fox’s version of Nevil Saute’s great novel, ‘'The Pied Piper,” is to continue screening at ’ the Opera House to-day. Monty Woolley, Roddy McDowell and Anne > Baxter are featured in the enthralling story of the Englishman who Jed a band of helpless children across embattled France to England and safety. • The film tells in graphic detail the , difficulties encountered in their perilous journey. Starting in the South of France as the gigantic German attack • was launched in the tragic month of ■ June, 1940, the Englishman manages to make his halting way home, shepherding his straggling group of youngsters right-under the very nose of the dreaded Gestapo. Monty Woolley, who scored so heavily in “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” essays a new dramatic role in “The Pied Piper.” ' Cast as the crotchety Englishman, the ' bewiskered former Yale drama professor is at his best as he outwits the ' Gestapo, while the children often outwit him! Roddy McDowall, the memorable Huw of “How Green Was ; My Valley,” and lovely Anne Baxter ’ also received praise for grand perfor- ' mances from preview critics. The supr porting honours are carried off by Otto Preminger and J. Carrol Naish. Com- • bining the breath-taking pathos, the rch humour and the warm romance of ] the book, “The Pied Piper” looms as , one of the outstanding pictures of the > year. MAJESTIC THEATRE. ' Featured as a sparkling tuneful ■romance peppered with hilarity. Booth ' Tarkington’s popular novel, "PresentI ing Lily Mars,” screens at the Majestic Theatre to-day, with Judy Garland, ’ Van Heflin and Fay Bainter in the . stellar roles. It is an appealing story , of the stage, in which Judy Garland, as a stage-struck girl, has many setbacks before she wins success. As Lily Mars she sings and dances delightfully as is altogether the likeable girl the author pictured. Among the songs Judy will \be heard in are "When I Look at You,” “Tom, Tom. the Piper's Son,” "Every Little Moment," “Is It Really Love,"

• "Broadway Rhythm," and “Think of Me.” Van Heflin and Fay Bainter give delightful performances, and Maria Eggerth sings brilliantly. There is also an attractive and interesting programme of featurettes. REGENT THEATRE “The Living Ghost," a mystery drama screening to-day at the Regent Theatre, is a picture that is filled with action and interest, and a well-main-tained quality of suspense. Central characters in the story are James Dunn and Joan Woodbury, who handle their forthright roles with capable assurance. Others in the cast who do good work are Lawrence Grant. Paul McVey, Jan Wiley, Gus Glassmire, George Eldridge, J. Arthur Young, Edna Johnson, Norman Willis, Minerva Urecal and Forrest Taylor. As the story opens, Glassmire, a millionaire, disappears from his home, and is afterwards found in his library one night, bereft of his mental faculties. Miss Woodbury, his secretary, becomes the aid of Dunn, an investigator, who is called in to solve the case. The associate feature is "My Son, the Hero." DUCHESS THEATRE. Will Hay, favourite comedian, provides plenty of laughs in “The Goose Steps Out," screening to-night at the Duchess Theatre. In a film depicting the outwitting of the Gestapo, he is supported by Frank Pettingell, Anne Firth and Peter Croft,