ENTERTAINMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17994, 12 April 1930, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

STRAND THEATRE. “The Desert Song,” a Warner Brother and Vitaphone all-talking production based on the famous stage, operetta of Hie same name, will commence a season at the Strand Theatre to-night. The screen version retains all the music, songs, choruses, dances and dialogue which made the ! stage production so popular, hut the j film has permitted the producers to I incorporate a great deal of outdoor | action. A cast of excellent singers has been selected to interpret the production. John Boles, the leading tenor, sang in the same role in the stage presentation of “The Desert Song” in New York and has been a prominent actor in motion pictures for some time. Garlotta King plays opposite the principal and is said to possess a voice of excellent recording qualities. There is a talented chorus of 100 voices. The plot is set amid the deserts of French, Morocco and tells of the efforts of a young Frenchman, disguised as the “Red Shadow,” to avenge the wrongs of the oppressed tribesmen, and his romance with the beautiful ward of his father. THE CIVIC. “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” delighted another crowded house last nightThis screen version of Frederick Lonsdale's witty comedy of England's smart set is perfectly done from every point of view, and with its intriguing story, its subtle and witty dialogue, its brilliant interpretation by a great cast of distinguished players headed by Norma Shearer and Basil Ralhbone, who speak the English language, and its beautiful setting and perfect reproduction, provides an evening of rare delight. “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” tells of a lady adventurer who poses as a wealthy Australian widow and manoeuvres her way into the upper crust of English society. Iler retinue of polished servants are, in reality, a gang of thieves —the perfect butler, her constant inspiration. Not only the young bloods lay their hearts at her pretty feet; old Lord Elton, a perfect gentleman, but one not quite at home with the ladies, particularly young charmers, writes his proposal at a week-end country house party. That night Mrs Webley’s expensive pearls disappear, and the most interesting and amusing complications follow.

TALKIES AT CAMBRIDGE. Novelty set to music, and delightful music! That's the keynote of “Married |ln Hollywood,” the screen’s first : original operetta, which will be ! screened at the Cambridge Town Hall ! to-night. Oscar Strauss and Dave | Stamper composed the notable tunes i which lift this production, artistically, j far out of the ordinary class. A charming romance betw-een an American girl and a Balkan prince, gorgeous settings in Vienna and Hollywood and on the high seas, and a noteworthy cast are other important factors. A fantastic dream sequence, many amazing camera “angles” and moving scenes, delicious satire and dialogue, delightful situations, songs and speech in half-a-dozen languages, a perfection of sound recording never before approached—these all aid in making the picture one of the finest pieces of film entertainment in history. Norma Terriss and J. Harold Murray head the noteworthy cast, with Tom Patricolo, Walter Catlett, Lelia Karnelly, John Garrick (better know' as Reginald Dandy, who was the hero in “Rose Marie" in New Zealand), Irene Palasty and oilier stage celebrities adding much to the production. THEATRE ROYAL. “Fast Company,” Paramount's version of a famous Ring Lardner story, comes to the Theatre Royal to-night. This is a fast-moving comedy romance containing all the brilliant humour originally injected into the story by the author, and all the additional glamour which the camera alone can contribute to a play of this thrilling type. Jack Oakie, young comedian who has risen to movie prominence in little more than a year, plays the blundering, boastful small-town boy who makes good in “Fast Company.” He is the hero of the play. Richard “Sheets” Gallagher, another comedian whose success in films is commensurate with Oakie’s, plays the part of Oakie’s personal manager. Evelyn Brent and Gwen Lee, as a pair of j teamed actresses, .provide the feminine side of the love-interest. FRANKTON’S OWN. “ Love Over Night ” wall head the new programme at Frankton’s Own to-night. Good supporting films will be screened. SACRED CANTATA. Maundcr’s sacred cantata, “Olivet to Calvary,” will be rendered by Lhc members of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church choir next Wednesday, together with Mendelssohn's motett, “Hear My Prayer." The soloists are Mrs Geo. Boyes and Mr J. T. Battersby. ALEXANDER WATSON. That master of the elocutionary art, Mr Alexander Watson, will give one of his delightful recitals of selections from famous authors at the Theatre Royal, Hamilton, on Tuesday night, under the direction of E. J. Gravestocks Ltd. The more one sees and , hears Mr Watson the more one becomes amazed at his versatility and his power of memorising the most difficult passages from the words oi the great English writers. r His repertoire Is an ever-growing' : one, but he has not permitted his desire for versatility to mar the quality of his work. The programme for his recital on Tuesday Includes the magnificent forum scene from Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar,” with the famous orations of Brutus and Mark Antony, and Mr Watson’s thrilling presentation of the frenzied Roman populace; the first episode from Sir •T. M. Rnrrle’s delightful novel, “The Little Minister," describing the riot, the arrest, and escape of the Egyptian; “The Ballad of the Bolivar,” “Mandalay," “The Bell Buoy,” and “The Married .Man," by Rudyard Kipling: two excerpts from “Pickwick Papers” (Dickens), selections from A. A. Milne’s verse “When we were very Young" and “Now we are Six” (A. A. Milne), and Mark Twain’s hilarious nightmare “Punch Brothers, Punch.” The box plan is now open.