ENTERTAINMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20692, 30 December 1938, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT PROGRAMMES STATE THEATRE “Back in Circulation” is an engrossing newspaper comedy-drama. Pat O'Brien and Joan Blondell are starred in this highly dramatic and exciting story of the power of the Press. The plot revolves around the death of a millionaire, discovered by a tabloid newspaper editor 'O'Brien to have occurred under mysterious circumstances. The editor, aided by his keen woman reporter (Joan Blondell., amasses a damning amount of circumstantial evidence against the widow, and through his printed stories she is brought to trial. Tried and convicted of murder, her silence and demeanour convince the girl reporter thfit- the widow is innocent, hut ready to go to her doom, shielding someonp else. Thrills and adventure abound in “The Renegade Ranger.” the new outdoor picture starring George O'Brien. The famous action star has the role of a Texas Ranger who finds thrills and romance in his search for a beautiful Mexican girl fleeing to avoid a charge of murder. REGENT THEATRE Mr Bert. Bailey, originator of the character of Dad on stage and screen, will commence a week's season tonight. He is well worth meeting. Dad and Dave will further increase their tremendous popularity in the merry modern remedy, “Dad and Dave Come to Town.” Dad is of course Bert Bailey, I lie grand old man of the Australian stage and screen, who needs no introduction to audiences anywhere. His eldest son. Dave, if of course Fred MacDonald, who has also played the role for so long on stage and screen that he now almost walks and talks like Dave Rudd. In the opening sequences the. celebrated pair are the same outback country folk. Dave’s drawling voice, slouchy walk and untidy black hair, and Dad's broadbrimmed old felt hat belong to the “Selection” days, but when the Rudd family inherit a dress salon It is an entirely new Dad and Dave who are presented to film audiences, with entertaining results. THEATRE ROYAL A treat awaits patrons when they see Sandy Powell, Britain's inimitable comedian of radio, stage and screen, in “It’s a Grand Old World.” in which he is seen with Cyril Ritchard. so popular with theatre-goers in this country, and Hina Malo. The picture, which is a mixture of music, mirth and melody, brings Sandy to the screen as a football fan, a radio star, a stage hand, a. lion tamer, and a gambler—in fact, just the sort of situations that his fans expect him to get into. Three new song hits are featured in the film, these being titled "It's a Grand Old World,” “Bouncing Ball” and “Signing On." For sheer laughter, with a dash of musical comedy thrown in, the picture cannot be bettered. “Danger on the Air” is built around the mysterious death of Mr Kluck (Berton Churchill), soft-drink magnate whose body is found in an office of a big broadcasting company. Harry Jones - .Ted Prouty), head of the company, tries to make it appear that Kluck died a natural death. But Benjamin Butts (Donald Woods), a clever radio sound engineer, proves that Kluck was poisoned with cyanogen gas, and the story works lip to a dramatic conclusion. CIVIC THEATRE “Always Good-bye” co-stars those popular experts of the deeper tones of screen dramatics—Barbara Stanwyck and Herbert Marshall. lan Hunter heads the featured cast. Long a film favourite, the actor’s last Twentieth Century-Fox film was the memorable “To Mary—With Love.” Johnnie Russell, the five-year-old Brooklyn tot, plays the focal role of the story around * which all the grown-up lives weave their destinies. The audience will meet, again the new Test of the “exponents of the lighter vein,” Cesar Romero. And what is claimed to be a record event is the introduction into the dramatic story of Hollywood’s most pretentious fashion show. The beautiful Barbara Stanwyck presents for the delectation of Hamilton’s femininity an array of more than two dozen of Filmland’s smartest costumes and gowns. She appears as a girl who gets a break of luck when a sympathetic physician (Herbert Marshall) finds her a job in a fashion shop. This theme provides a fitting frame for the gowns worn by Miss Stanwyck. ROXY THEATRE “Live. Love and Learn” develops a sparkling story of the married life of a penniless artist and the girl who forsook wecklth and society to marry him. In abrupt contrast to the grim scenes of “Night Must Fall.” the most recent teaming triumph of Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, the settings of “Live, Love and Learn” are faithful reproductions of Greenwich Milage. If he lived, this daring British secret agent sitting with the German high command in the uniform of a Prussian Lancer could strike a deadlier blow than a million marching men! If he succeeded, it. meant heartbreak: if he failed, the firing squad. Characterised by jolting realism that makes it one of the most suspenseful spy stories ' ever screened. “Lancer Spy" stars Dolores Del Rio, George Sanders and Peter Lorre. One of the “Crime Doesn't Pay” series and a coloured Pete Smith Oddity are also screened.