ENTERTAINMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18874, 18 February 1933, Page 7

ENTERTAINMENTS.

TO-NIGHT’S PROGRAMMES. STRAND THEATRE. “BLONDE VENUS.” “Blonde Venus,” Marlene Dietrich’s newest starring Paramount picture, at the Strand Theatre, is -her fifth directed by Josef von Sternberg. Herbert Marshall and Cary Grant, and little Richie Moore support Miss Dietrich. The story finds Helen Faraday, once the toast -of Berlin’s music halls, now married to Ned Faraday and the mother of his son, Johnny, having all the ‘happiness she thinks any human being has the right to expect In a poor, East Side tenement, and her family. Ned, a struggling young scientist, whose health is breaking, is her chief worry. Only a trip abroad will save Ned’s life, hut the amount needed -to make the trip Is beyond their means. Urged by love, Helen determines to earn the money. She succeeds In getting a job In a night club, where, billed as “The Blonde Venus,” she creates a sensation and attracts wealthy Nick Townsend. Her salary ts too small to be of any help to her husband, and she accepts the attention of Townsend. She tells her need so frankly, that she svirpriscs him into a generous offer of help. Ned goes abroad, believing she has earned the money at the night club, and leaving her with Johnny to console her during his absence. Nick, however, unable to resist the lure.of her beauty, meets her after the boat sails, and sets himself to win her affections and Johnny's. He succeeds with Johnny immediately, and, In the weeks that follow, Helen too. Letters from Germany tell her Ned Is Improving In health, and she tries to keep her feelings for Nick entirely on a friendly . basis. Nick, however, sweeps her into an avowal of love, and they go away for a holiday together. The holiday over, she returns home resolved to forget Nick and the episode forever. But Ned, in the meantime has returned unexpectedly. She leaves but takes Johnny with her. For weeks Ned lias her hunted by -the police, and finally, realising that she Is harming Johnny she surrenders him to his father.

Several years later, Helen has won renown on the European stage and whilst in Paris, meets Nick who persuades her to return to New York to see Johnny, and a reunion is achieved.

CIVIC THEATRE.

Commencing to-day at the Glvlo Theatre,''"The Tenderfoot" will be screened. It Is described as a rollicking laugh feast', wlthv Joe' E. Brown-,-Ginger Rogers and Lew Cody starring. There is an excellent supporting programme.'. THEATRE ROYAL. A comedy that moves with bewildering rapidity from one absurdity to the next and boldly presents the most impossible situations without the suggestion of an apology, is almost certain to delight modern by Its very audacity. -Such a picture is “Hold ’Em Jail," which commenced a season at the Theatre Royal yesterday. The film is entirely devoid of plot, unless a succession of disconnected but highly amusing pranks can be thus described, and depends for Its Immediate success solely on the brilliant work of a skilled cas.t. The, two principals are Wheeler and Woolsey, a comedy “team” that never fails to please, and in their latest picture, as gaol-birds with unbounded impudence and few restrictions, they are at their .best.. Lesser parts are played by other artists of repute, including Edna May Oliver, as Ihe warden’s elderly, but sprightly, sister, Roseo Ates, as a stuttering convict,. Edgar Kennedy, as the warden, and Betty Gamble, a youthful leading lady, as the warden’s daughter. Wheeler and Woolsey, two persistent salesmen, make such a nuisance of themselves in a nightclub that the proprietor employs a ruse to have them arrested. On arrival at Bidemore Prison, they make themselves at home in the warden’s suite, and even when sent to solitary confinement, manage to clown their way back to favour. The plaintive rendering of “Chopsticks” by Wheeler and Edna May Oliver on the warden’s grand piano, and the convicts’ football match, are among the funniest moments of a film that is rich in comedy. The supporting programme is also of a high order.

ROXY THEATRE. Imagine the world’s tallest building —tlie Empire State Building in New York City—with all the drama, romance and bits of humour which make up the lives of the thousands of men and women, young and old, toiling on its many floors. This is the structure around which “Skyscraper Souls," opening to-day at the Roxy Theatre, lias been woven. The foreign atmosphere of holiday gaiety and beauty that makes Agua Caliente comparable only to Europe's Deauville, is brought to the screen in "Fast Companions,” also at the Roxy, a story of a race-track jockey and his regenerative ragamullln pal. There are authentic scenes of the famous resort, photographed on a gala day.