Cinema Reviews

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21413, 4 March 1935, Page 17

Cinema Reviews

JBAJESTK

. ~ , ~:«■ , a: c those .. -#- bwl : •;.•;:;;,■ bv i;iy mg - ,- » P« ,DJtl ~.-.- J'oai- ' !^- ; '. : c:tU '*"^.;,.'X"*•'•'••'■: ".Menace" ' "■"'.:^--^ x ' : !'■')'.. ',',",,' V > Saturday 1 ••■-/• , ; .._ ~,.,;,.,( u> •:^:-^- y . : ;.:..V'Vv.di:r(.d' 1..;. » '". ■..::■'• -'■"• .. : ", : , .. ;,.■•.,;.:; and skil- „..-' x-- '•'■''". ;:. ',-... -mi i^i'-e" V c :-'■ . . ..... . .j... , n „,- t . ,— ■- : . L /; .::. -'."o-"dard aV.ainat »<> «" , r.C- ~ , jr <i,.,,. :•: rm\ one :*", u;' rall , e ;.,...;;"...'. '" .\s "jieien :— :fru,-y..c>r- -*.*■'■•■ - ..; p- ■■: C a a:uu;o. the '' : :-''- a "- : : ',,,;v."','v well all that €.^tut A -K, Thornton *■• \T~ otrelVd-c <■''-'■ Henri- '* 1 praise And there are fs*.To"c!lW yla.vo:- for specal /-■-; r ... A n,c,o ■ ; "JZ Helen Chalmers. Norman ■ ;? ''f><one' rrccv :md Freddie ■ : ' r ''.. Vet tor br.d.:e. the lastS"-' v ~ ".' pj>" t: a dam in .-"■' ''.'..' ;■; v. .-.: !'-j: hi.-, .iob at ■--■•"'.'. J "v,-iit':'. c.!vum:-:a;:ce.s de-::-:,r'\" .'.Vf-' ■ f mere. A storm : ' :i ", : "v-!';:>o"l' for his post -".T-.T." —rive- :•! time "-> see ' "V-CLun-ier rwojjt away, and ''i"rr, 'T-kd'lr; a:; :rc<-;dent he could '"' .'-."vt'itcd. Deliberately he ;: " 1 ""„',' ;i ,. r ,;:j:;;; U : and is killed. r "'-.VVi- f.n-.'.'thv boconies mad at - "''"' r c'v •>'•'-" vi'ii'.teaiice on the "''"':*■-,£ nicinbtr- of the party. jcsuoii.-ibk'. Threaten:hei:. for two years. ; '"T," v sl-V./ii names the actual "" ;.''"'-';,ieT vit-v i-bail die by ids ; : '" -.Vt;..'<.-• meet in Helen's "•..- i-'u.-e -t Santa Barbara and :7"V-,r .e.:au by Helen's sister

•',r""' ; 'Aadiew Forsythe. Also '~J>~ve Vi';ito.x 'Forrester Har- :'"?', t'v's chaaiTeur. the very type Cxi'-"'-*-:-' taxi-driver, who sup--1 a.nd delightfully, the "'•>-,?' cur.'x ivliei. There is also !■'-•*:" 'Hsihwi-Ii Hcbbcsj, the new ""•T'vi'ho -i i.c-:'.her butler nor mur- "►"" bat •'""•'•" carries out ills real -■"i:ii.:r.fjd dunes ;i: excellent Ij,'- During the first evening a jiftour. Mrs Thornton, and her ■js, Ronald Cavendish, arrive. srfj a dangerous looking knife is itsi'tinning'to the hall table a note Li-.'jECTi? thai the murderer has :;:c 71 :e full scene is now set. ";; m-irderer and his intended vic- ;.: L'e ::i ih" same house, now ccm- .■::■.;.■ isolated, for the telephone :-:.;.-• ti>c:: cut and the cars put ;.: Ltrar.l.rxn. A n-..t shot :._ 0 a his hat as he attempts to tv; en iooi for help convinces Wil-:,:"-a: h:s safest place, the cireum-W~-.i r'/v.'itnitar.dii'g, is back in the il. a short si.'ace of time •- :::;•' .; stabbed and killed, an un- ..":.;; attempt is made on the i ; fe '".:•.:■•>. >j!'-T.a is bcund and gaggeJ. j.; Cav.-.d.ih receives a nasty blow \ '■:.: .-.-'.-ifcac. There is further ex¥r■'.:.. jiifcrc- the denouement is r.tii t;.i it v.xuld be unfair to »t r.L,rc disdesures. "Menace." let -: atrratu-d by this form of enterWBV. v. well assured, ha.: ail the v! the best of tmallcrs. And. iaipkre and vary the. programme, Sris a goodly number'of selected an. TIVOLI "fltt NOTORIOUS SOPHIE LANG" '• f-cture whjen brings a star to the tune always: arouses *3&on'of new enjoyment, an exwhicn js more than fulfilled fS* ttsrthngly brilliant acting of Michad >.. "The Notorious !l It vould not be enough •V that sne is beautiful and tal,J trKe '>-■* •<> <n-"action of man-

7f *o e uiu Lil md * cmating, iSt 6 * Tn ° i'" r H i„i ihr mdi;*Wlh'Mta „of mc hi i„ fresh. '*lL " abl " ,d Penality. •WSUTe 21 r , nUnrlirf r>n■T* 1 ' J r -> r i nd/inj, \ersa,,L, .A*-"* ,; = if i i thf lole of **?. tt >" obliu .!r, net only to flf«"» o'f p,r j.i.ntv as often kS"J J !f a rt K au itlo,lb but (2»«gU4ll'attractive with everv 2«»2■«» leiding man Paul JJfl pLos the part cf another Jggtae Lanif siiv i] , th a skill JflMUei hfr en n Bct\ ccr them *JE2r unr emntm s e cilement Hff*" Whcnthcj ac finally Jfjiorly after i ,aor flavin" *rto—full of bitithles. and *, .v l\ d,lor ' l " h with tf fO-t bi'vu i tUm (1 The Kf Jif L ItJl^s i net i.s tit , ' SVi ith i name '»,;,' uattnt lteciu icndition *' £*, lunru r J' i » shl finr,, <• Artnu B/i i, one of * , tracw r " Inc ereen, > u f ''n n !i 1 the S- V s , e I«rt i i>i police inv L <•' f iif in are i t r r» ' j \ tin part , ■* ( i ui 1 p ,„• f or \ i i < mat in- ' -u f! l 1 ' , J lj i'm the / " r 1 * ' i Lifobl »~, f ' ii i in his * f r v i lin iour nf ; , ! SI- f n nth and , 'u h <, , „ The \ j i Jn every u. l \ l ! picture , H * i I( n. Nt:, f.f " f ' Hlfully , J '- f a ' ' < p|j( rising t d , ] <-' r < to e who "-,,,' 1 i ir are '' ■ l > fji f , reen 1,1 - i ' < i tains . , ,{ j' ' -..icai I \ ' ' „ik not !, ""<»,•" J ( I 11 II; ion i* , j*" ff * - in itself -* , / /'»» <>t ~ ~ „ f ' r c

MAYFAIR

"THE GAY DIVORCEE" Besides being a remarkably funny, gay, and brisk romantic comedy. RKO-Radio's spectacular musical film, "The Gay Divorcee." which is at the Mayfair Theatre, presents strikingly unusual settings and many talented beauties. "The Gay Divorcee," which co-stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was adapted for the screen from Astaire's international stage hit of the same title, which scored 288 performances in New York and ran for m.\ months in London. The plot itself is a hilarious romance, boasting a oe.'.seless How of coin plications as Astaire madly pursues, the lovely Ginger Rogers across many dancing floors and through the mazes of a lav-ishly-appointed futuristic hotel. A

second and even more laughable romance is provided by Alice Brady and Edward Everett Horton, in which the illimitable Alice Brady pursues Horton with marital designs. The settings arc the most lavish ever constructed on the RKO-Radio "lot" in Hollywood. One of them, in particular, representing a hotel 50 years hence, was so huge that an addition to the stage had to be built to provide room for the cameras. Against this remarkable setting 50 beautiful girls and 50 dancing men perform mass terpsichorean novelties said to be entirely different from anything hitherto attempted on the screen. One of the ensembles is a daring adagio dance, in which the entire chorus takes part. In this presentation the girls appear in fulllength gowns, marking the first time this risky dance has ever been attempted in other than the scanty attire which makes for safety as the men hurl their fair partners through the air. Music for "The Continental" was specially written by Con Conrad and

Herb Magidson. Other numbers were composed by Cole Porter, who wrote the music and lyrics for the stage production, and by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. Box plans are now open at the D.I.C. PLAZA "TRANS-ATLANTIC MERRY-GO-ROUND All the ingredients necessary for good' entertainment are present in "Trans-Atlantic Merry-Go-Round," which opened at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday, and so skilfully are they mixed that the production is full of interest from the first scene until the last. Tuneful songs with good voices to sing them, comedy, and drama alternating throughout, clever dancing, and spectacular scenes are some of the manv attractions of "Trans-Atlantic Merrv-Go-Round," and. when to these are added a murder that takes some solving, even the most blase of picturegoers would find it hard not to show his enthusiasm for such a production. The theme of the picture is the intrigues, the loves, the hates, and the amusements* of passengers on the first 48 hours of a trip from New York to Southampton on a liner that attracts its passengers principally by the quality of the musical entertainment given them on the voyage. Professional card players, an engaging crook, a detective whose holiday turns into one of the busman's variety, and a joyous coterie of entertainers are the principal characters, and the incidents they cram into 48 hours at sea are a good advertisement for the joys of a life on the ocean wave. Gene Raymond and Nancy Carroll share the acting honours, and provide much of the love interest, relieved with some sparkling comedy moments. Sydney Howard, as a perpetually drunk passenger, and Mitzi Green, with some brilliant impersonations and some good songs, are screamingly funny, and the others in the cast are almost equally as good. The story has so many facets that it is impossible adequately to disclose in short compass, and it is one of the triumphs of "Trans-Atlantic Merry-Go-Round" that it keeps a plot with so many ramifications from becoming too complicated for easy following. The story has the audience guessing throughout, and the comedy element, excellent though it is is never so strong as to overshadow the dramatic climax that is felt to be approaching. A special mention must be given to the excellence of the entertainment scenes given by the vessel's professional entertainers. The songs are tuneful and catchy, and the three Boswell Sisters are heard in one splendid number. The photographer's skill is given full play in some of the ballet scenes, and some of these are superblv clever. The supporting programme is of a high standard, and the best item in it is a sillv svmphony. "Peculiar Pen-

guins," which is good enough in itself to attend the theatre to sec. CRYSTAL PALACE "LONDON SPEAKS" The London in "London Speaks," the film which began a season at the Crystal Palace on Saturday, is the real London, the great metropolis throbbing with life and bright with a million lights. Greater Australasian Films have offered it on the screen, not as the setting for an entertainment, but as an entertainment itself; and it is almost certain to be popular. *pr Lundon is always before us—in history, in literature, in the news of the day—and New Zealanders attach a certain sentiment to it. t While it is a traveller's story, London Speaks'' is not a travelogue; yet it takes the audience into London, unfolds all the scenes of romantic interest—the Tower. St. Paul's, Madame Tussaud's, Rotten Row, the Old Cunositv Shop—and leads on into exciting" discoveries and adventures. Indeed everything that one has imagined one would di> and see if a trip to London became a possibility is in the film. When the germ of the idea to produce "London Speaks" was conceived by Greater Australasian Films, Ltd., an all-Australian film-distributing company, thev deputised their general manager, Mr Cecil Mason, a Londoner, who has' been living in Australia for a number of years, but who has renewed his acquaintanceship with London by frequent visits, to produce o film about London that would be as "good as the actual trip there." This lie has undoubtedly achieved. The picture has been produced as a really sincere gesture on the part of Greater Australasian Films, Ltd., to show in an entertaining fashion what the "city of cities" is really like. The adventure starts with the arrival of the ship in the famous docks, giving an opportunity of studying from the deck of the ship the perspective of London. Then it passes into the heart of the city and the audience realises the humour that London contains and sits back and laughs heartily at one of Britain's best salesmen in Petticoat Lane as he tries to sell a most intimate portion of ladies' apparel. Many famous people, from the King downwards, appear in "London Speaks." London's life, historic interest, and fascination, all are cleverly blended. Those who have never been in London will leel and see some-

thing of its pulsing activities, O'.d World serenity, and the hundred and one other contrasts, while those who have seen London at first hand will have memories and experiences rekindled by the intimate touch of the camera. In addition, Mr Dave McGill appears on the stage and sings a bracket of songs of old London. LIBERTY "LAST OF THE DUANES" AND "HEAT LIGHTNING" Action and thrills a-plenty are combined in the new double-feature programme—"Last of ,the Duanes" and "Heat Lightning"—which was shown at the Liberty Theatre on Saturday. The spirit of Zane Grey's popular story of the west has been completely recaptured in "Last of the Duanes," the tale of a young man who was outlawed after he had killed the cowardly murderer of his father. The picture is of the true western type from beginning to end. Shots resound, horses clatter through ravines and down the sides of steep hills, and the hero, time and again, rides for his life before a fusillade of bullets. The part of Buck, the "last of the Duanes,' is taken by George O'Brien. He gives a fine portrayal of the hunted but fearless rider, alone, and with the thought always wit him that he is a marked man. Lucile Browne takes the leading role opposite O'Brien, and the combination is a particularly happy one. Just as the quick-shooting, hard-hitting Buck exactly fills one's ideal of a Zane Grey hero, so does Lucile Browne fit the part i of the heroine. The picture includes a good old-fashioned barn dance, and ends conventionally and happily,, with an equally conventional marriage, the bride and bridegroom driving away from the church in a four-wheeled cart and with showers of rice. "Heat Lightning" is a drama, enacted under the sweltering sun and the eerie, flickering heat lightning of a mid-American desert, but combining action, romance, and light _ comedy. The laurels for acting in this picture must go to Aline MacMahon—her performance is really exceptional. She has beauty of a strange but compelling lype, and her voice, with a neat, clipper, and an almost foreign, accent, is fascinating. Her part, especially when she meets the man she once loved, and thought she had succeeded in banishing from her mind, and in the highly dramatic situations that follow calls for an intensity of concentrated acting that very few actresses could give. As her pretty but wilful sister, Ann Dvorak is also given many opportunities for fine dramatic work, and Preston Foster, as Aline's erstwhile lover, gives another polished performance. Others in the cast include Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrcll, and Frank McHugh. Several newsreels complete the programme.

GRAND "MANHATTAN MELODKAMA" "Manhattan Melodrama," which provides first-class entertainment in its compelling love story studded with dramatic and intensely emotional scenes and a generous sprinkling of comedy incidents and characters, is having a return season at the Grand Theatre. The galaxy of screen stars assembled in its action to support the powerfully-acted studies of American motive forces, presented by Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy, is bound to delight regular picture patrons, but it goes further than that. In the alternations of thrill, amusement, and gripping emotion that go to the making of the story's fascination, and in the presentment of typical high-lights of American gaiety and politics is ever present the national problem of keeping the balance between the power of the dollar and that of social probity. The supports will include Chapter 11 of the serial, "Gordon of Ghost City," starring the popular Buck Jones.

REGENT

"WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS" Considerable discrimination and a fine appreciation of both dramatic and literary qualities are needed for the faithful translation to the screen of a well-written stage play. This is all the more so when the play is by Sir James Barrie, who offers to the maker of films no opportunities for the lavish or sensational "sets" in which the screen can assert itself as a superior medium to the stage. Yet the makers of "What Every Woman Knows," which began a season at the Regent on Saturday, have done their work well. The film version is even more than a mere translation. It is able to stand by itself, and it will be recognised by those who have never read Sir James Barrie's play as an excellent film, well-acted, well-balanced, and technically without a noticeable flaw. It is an admirable example of the screen meeting the stage on equal terms and losing nothing by the comparison. The story is a simple one, and above all a human one, in which ambition, natural kindliness and Scottish caution are the spiritual background. Of the cast, first of all should be mentioned Helen 'Hayes. This actress has the remarkable faculty of turning to good account what might well be regarded as disqualifications for great acting. She is small in stature, not beautiful in the conventional screen sense, and has none, apparently, of the qualities which are exploited by players of the type of Greta Garbo. Yet she holds the attention perfectly all the time she is on the screen, without apparent effort to impress. Her part is that of the only daughter of a simple family in the small Scottish town. She has reached the age when the temptation comes to tell small falsehoods for the sake of a year or two, without having found a husband. The family feels it as a slight that their Maggie has not married, and takes steps—or, rather, seizes a strange opportunity of forcing' a young man into a contract to marry her. Which leads to the character of the young man. He is a poor student, forced by lack of money to be a railway porter, yet all the time cherishing an ambition to enter Parliament. The young man is acted magnificently by Brian Aherne, who seems to combine admirably the moodiness and occasional brilliance of the Scotsman with a zeal for social reform. Aherne's performance is in no way inferior to that of Helen Hayes. The very best mention should be made of Lucille Watson, as a most charming, worldly-wise woman, whose casual remarks are in themselves an entertainment. The cast is completed, and well completed, by Madge Evans, Dudley Digges, Donald Crisp, and David Torrence.

There is a supporting programme of well-chosen subjects. CIVIC "ARE YOU A MASON?" So successful was the opening week of "Are You a Mason?" at the Civic Theatre that an extension of the season has been found necessary. When it was released recently in Australia, this film was received with tremendous enthusiasm, and for every day of the season in Christchurch the theatre has been full. The popularity of this production is well deserved, as it is undoubtedly one of the funniest and most entertaining comedies that have yet reached the screen. Two favourites, Sonine Hale and Robertson Hare, head a strong cast of players which includes the cheery Dave Burnaby, Lewis Shaw, and a charming newcomer to the screen, Gwyneth Lloyd. Briefly the story centres round the desire of a young wife that her husband should become a member of '-ie Masonic Lodge. This whim is sponsored by her mother, whose iron hand has ruled her husband since a disastrous indiscretion in his earlier days. It ia impossible to write of all the

situations that occur in this hilarious farce, but the happy team of stars carry the comedy along at a furious pace and the audience is kept in fits of laughter throughout the whole of the film. The first half of an enjoyable programme is a splendid mystery drama, "Passing Shadows," starring the fine character actor Edmund Gwenn. NEXT CHANGE REGENT "CLEOPATKA" "Cleopatra," the talking film version of an immortal romance, will be shown at the Regent Theatre shortly. It is described by critics abroad as at least equal in splendour to such pictures as "The Ten Commandments." "The King of Kings," and "The Sign of the Cross." No fewer than 8000 players were engaged in its production. Nothing is too big for Cecil B. de Mille to attempt, and in "Cleopatra" he has gone the limit in his endeavour to produce something of towering magnificence. All the lavish spectacle of Egypt, the magnificence and power of Rome, with 600 chariots, 500 black slaves, 1000 steeds, and 300 dancing girls, Cleopatra's abduction to desolate wastes of the burning desert, the ballet of the leopards, Calpernia's banquet, the siege of Alexandria and its spectacular battle, the astounding battle of Actium, the Egyptian serenade to the stars — these and more are presented on the screen, while the love romance of Cleopatra with Caasar and Marc Antony is unfolded. When Marc Antony, stalwart warrior and staunch friend of Caesar, sets out to capture Egypt's beautiful queen, little does he realise how he wa%to get her. Not with sword and shield, but with his heart. And when love changed a queen into a woman the destiny of the whole world was changed.

Staged against the background of Rome and Egypt in their glory, "Cleopatra" brings a faithful account of the undying love story of these two great figures to the screen. Claudette Colbert plays the roll of Cleopatra, Henry Wilcoxon Marc Antony, and Warren William Julius Caesar.