AMUSEMENTS

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 3, 29 December 1939, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS

CITY AND EXHIBITION

KING’S THEATRE.

The consummate artistry with which he - starred in “Wuthering Heights” to win an international acclaim, is said again to be exhibited by Laurence Olivier, in Columbia’s “Clouds Over Europe” at the King’s Theatre. Ralph Richardson, unforgettable doctor of “The Citadel,” is featured in the new film, a laugh-filled romantic action drama depicting the efforts of Scotland Yard to solve the mysterious disappearances of airplanes in flio-ht.

Olivier’s performance as a dashing test pilot in “Clouds Over Europe” has been hailed as one of the finest swash-buckling, devil-may-care characterisations ever given the screen. Richardson, on the other hand, is seen to brilliant advantage as an umbrella- j losing Scotland Yard sleuth, butlerbedeviled and never able to keep. a “date” with a girl.

Valerie Hobson plays the leading feminine role in “Clouds Over Europe,” as the newspaper woman whose activities constantly harass the detective and the test pilot. Others in the cast include George Curzon and Sandra Storme. Tim Whelan directed.

“Clouds Over Europe” weaves a 1 story of romance, intrigue and daring I with the fight of a great nation to : gird herself against the threatening sabotage of alien agents. A new super-. charger is undergoing tests when the bomber in which it has been placed suddenly and cluelessly disappears. Another, plane, piloted by Olivier, goes up only to be forced down by a powerful ray directed from a nearby vessel.

The action-tense climax of “Clouds Over Europe” takes place aboard the spy-operated vessel. Olivier leads his fellow-pilots in a bid for freedom. Breaking from their prison cell in the hold of the vessel, the fliers fight their way to the upper decks, where they J capture a machine-gun. Finally gaining the bridge, Olivier and his men successfully “take over” the vessel, in time to turn it and its enemy crew over to an oncoming naval boat which had been “commandeered” by Scotland Yard.

TUDOR THEATRE.

A millionaire’s one-man rebellion forms the laughter-packed theme of “Fifth Avenue Girl,” starring Ginger Rogers, which is transferred to the Tudor. The millioniare is Walter Connolly, who climaxes years of steadily increasing neglect on the part of his family' by hiring Ginger to pose as a “gold-digger” and to stay in his palatial Fifth Avenue mansion as his guest. His wife and children suddenly become solicitous about him, and do their best to drive the feminine intruder away—all of which makes for the many uproarious sequences of the

film. Two youthful romances, and a second honeymoon for the millionaire and his wife, are all taken care of by the time Ginger completes her job.

-Also the associate feature is “Career,” which has its first N.Z. screening, is striking a vividly realistic note in its characterisations and American atmosphere, the vital drama of small town life, “Career” is based on the

novel by Phil Stong, author of the memorable “State Fair.”

With a cast headed by Anne Shirley and Edward Ellis, the story is laid

in a small lowa town in the early ’3o’s. Ellis, in the role of a storekeeper whose wisdom and generosity vitally affect the happiness and prosperity of his fellow townsfolk, is said to match his brilliant performance in “A Man to Remember.” Samuel Errol, and the “Gateway to Hollywood” finalists, Alice Eden and John Archer, are also cast.

STATE THEATRE.

MURDER BY MAGIC STALKS FAIR IN “CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND.”

Charlie Chan crosses the ghostly path of murder by magic at the World’s Fair playground on the Pacific in “Charlie Chan at Treasure Island,” his newest and most exciting 20th Century-Fox mystery thriller at the State Theatre.

Sidney Toler again plays the famous Earl Derr Biggers sleuth, who faces his most baffling case in the Fair’s Temple of Magic when death . springs from the psychic arrow of a master of the occulta mystery which | Clan defies the superatural to unravel.

Murder by ghosts provides a new kind of crime riddle in “Charlie Chan at Treasure Island,” and the film is said to boast a twist at the climax that promises to lift you right out of your chair.

This marks the third time Toler has played the popular sleuth, having previously portrayed him with signal success in “Charlie Chan in Honolulu” and “Charlie Chan in Reno.”

Chan is again aided by his No. 2 son, played by Sen Yung, who is featured in a fine supporting cast, headed by Cesar Romero and also featuring Pauline Moore, Douglas Fowley, June Gale, Douglas Dumbrille, Sally lane, Billie Seward, Wally Vernon and Donald Macßride.

JEAN ROGERS HEADS CAST AS GIRL WHOSE MA SCARES AWAY HER BEAUS.

If you’ve ever been in love —and tried to dodge “the folks”—you’ll appreciate the problems of the heorine of “Stop, Look and Love,” the new 20th Century-Fox picture at the State Theatre, with Jean Rogers, Eddie Collins, Minna Gombell and Cora Sue Collins sharing top billing.

It’s the human and hilarious romance which casts Jean as a pretty young thing who has no beaus, all because Mama frightens them all away by trying to help rope them into matrimony. And Mama isn’t all the poor girl has to conntend with. There’s kid-brother-and-sister trouble aplenty, too. But dear old Dad understands, and 'when Jean finally meets her dream man and Ma throws a monkey wrench into the romance with her weddingbell spiel, Dad jumps in and saves the day and True Love triumphs. Minna Gombell is Jean’s exasperating Ma; William Frawley, her sympathetic Dad; Robert' Kellard, the sweetheart who almost — but not quite — gets away; Eddie Collins is the

proprietor of the eatery where the

! sweeties meet to sigh over a hamburger; Cora Sue Collins is the kid sister with - a movie star, complex; and Jay Ward is. the pesky kid brother, who’d rather sleep than eat.

PLAZA THEATRE.

Generations of men, women and children throughout the world have grown to identify the name of Sherlock Holmes with the very apotheosis of detective adventure. Holmes’ scientific methods, amazing powers of deduction, his courage, eccentricities and fine humour have inspired the creation of countless other fictional sleuths but he has remained peerless in the popular imagination.

So it is only natural for the screen to turn to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work's for sure-fire material. Most recent picturisation of the great detective was in 20th Century-Fox’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” in which Basil Rathbone appeared as the perfect personification of Holmes, with Nigel Bruce as his ever-present foil, Dr.- Watson.

So well was this film received that Darryl F. Zanuck now has another Holmes story on the way—“ The Ad- . ventures of Sherlock Holmes,” with Rathbone and Bruce again in the leading roles and Ida Lupino and Alan Marshall also featured. Based on the play/“Sherlock Holmes,” by William Gillette (with the permission of the executors of the . late Conan Doyle’s estate), the picture pits the foremost detective against a criminal genius worthy of his talents notorious Moriarty. Moriarty, Holmes’ constant enemy, is also Doyle’s creation, and as a lawless master-mind ranks almost with Holmes in cleverness and ingenuity. The role in the film is portrayed by George Zucco, included in the cast with Terry Kilburn, Henry Stephenson and E. E. Clive.