SHOWS DUE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 31, 31 October 1942, Page 10

SHOWS DUE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

“Sergeant York” And Other Big Films

Once, no matter whether one lived in Omsk or Oamarii, it was possible to be tolerably well-informed about Hollywdbd doings, the films that were coming and the people who were in them. But today, because of newsprint restrictions in the size of newspapers and the ban on movie magazines, big films arrive almost unheralded. _ . . A portion of this section is given, therefore, io mention of some big pictures which are due in Wellington in the early summer. A few of them have had considerable word-of-mouth publicity, like ‘'Sergeant York.” others, like the brilliant ‘‘The Man Who Came to Dinner.” have been scarcely heard ot.

With its strange central conflict —the conscientious objector decorated for killing 25 men —“Sergeant York” is one of the most successful pictures shown in America in recent years. The real Sergeant York, a Tennessee mountaineer whose religious convictions were against tlie act of war, but who overcame his scruples and did in fact carry out one of the- most gallant and fantastic exploits of the last show down, remains one of America’s heroes. “What you did;” said .Marshal Foch, bestowing the Medaille Militaire upon York, “is tho greatest deed accomplished by any Allied soldier.” The film succeeds brilliantly in presenting the background from which this strange, fervid and essentially American character emerged. Gary Cooper gives the best performance of his career —and that is saying a great deal. “Sergeant York” will probably be shown in Wellington about Christmas. Bette Davis Again. Bette Davis is another big star who will be seen in several good films in the near future. She comes to the Opera House next week in “The Letter,” the fierce Maugham play first made famous on. the screen by the long-dead Jeanne Eagels. It seems true of Miss Davis that, in each succeeding film she should go a little farther and be a little, better. The world remembers “Dark Victory, then “All This and Heaven Too/’ Now she is a well-loved, respected woman who, by a tragic quirk of fate, empties

ST. JAMES THEATRE Thirty years have gone by and Cecil B. de tMillc is still tilling his canvases with the largest and loudest films ever made. He is the showman -par excellence, caring very much about movement and profusion and very little about aesthetic distinction and verisimilitude. “Heap the Wnd Wind" has all the dazzle mid finery of the great de Milios of the past: drawingroom. ballroom, billow and flounce. All the ferocity: storms, wrecks, a light which, taking on a genuine savagery, startles and e^', Highbrows will find the film faintly amusing. The other 09 per cent, of us who are filling St. Janies night alter night are discovering that the de Alille recipe Is as good and entertaining as ever. Thirty years of Hint directing have taught him—or perhaps have not let him forget the trick of -making the most .shopworn adventure exciting. “Reap the Vvilu Wind” is in colour. The stars are John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland. It is doing record business. KING’S THEATRE It has required a trip “down under” for many American servicemen to discover England. “I never • guessed the guy was half so goo-d,” said one who left the Kings last night after seeing that truly English and lowbrow comedian, George rorinby, in “South American George,” which began a second week yesterday. Formby is a monument to much which is departing from the England we cherish. there is nothing “smart” 1 about him. Me is as homely as the kettle on the hob, as refreshing as an evening in a village pub. “South. American George” is more lavish than his former productions. There are more shapely girls ami expensive settings. But be still- has his guitar, his Blackpool accent, and his Hair for puting over songs as only George Fornrby can. A, song that has already found its way over the air in Wellington is one of the highlights ol the show—“ The Barmaid at the Rose and Crown.” There are. other people in the. show—veteran Enid Stamp Taylor among them—but it is Formby’s from start to finish. PARAMOUNT THEATRE There is a phi-war variety and lavishness about the films at the Paramount Theatre this week. At the top of the bill a musical that smells of greasepaint and orchids; for. the other half a musical flavoured with sagebush and gunpowder. “Lady Be Good” paying a welcome return visit to Wellington., and scintillates as brightly as it. did when it drew crowded houses to its premiere. “Look long and fondly at these lavish musicals. America’s wartime economy must necessarily drive them from the screen for the duration.” . , . , The cast, too, is of the champagne kind —Eleanor Powell, Robert Young, Ann Sothern, Red Skelton, John Carroll and Lionel Barrymore, together in a play that is no more like the original musical comedy than “The Chocolate Soldier” was like the .Strauss-Shaw triumph. But it is not a bit the worse for that—it has a tempo that is well in keeping wih the mind and moods of 194-2, and it has musical numbers that may never have been heard in the Broadway production of the 19‘20’s. but which are tickling the ears and toes ot today. Best known to the younger generation is “The Last Time I saw Paris, excellently sung by Ann Sothern.--Gene Autry’s swan song—or nearly so—fills the first half of the bill. The world’s most popular cowboy star has joined the armv, and will probably be out* of pictures for the duration. “The Yodelling Kid From Pine Ridge” is the title of his new film—much in the Autry manner, but good souhd entertainment with lots of riding, singing jind broad comedy. A name from the dim past, appears in the cast list: Betty Bronson, who played Peter P(tn in the silent days and for whom a great future was .predicted. Well, one can’t be right all the time.

a revolver into the body of a man. pulling the trigger again and again. M liy did she do it? On the answer hinges the story that has been numbered among the best" Somerset Maugham ever wrote. By wav of contrast, Bette Davis is starred with James Cagney-in “The Bride Came C.0.D.,” a comedy which, from the sparing amount of publicity yet, available, lands the stars into all sorts of uncomfortable places, including a cactus patch where, in war parlance, their bases were practically undefended. Third on the list of Bette Davis releases isi another serious film. “The Great Lie. Writing of this film the critic of the London "Sunday Tinies” says: It is what most of us like in the cinema—a dizzily-utilikely tale, dazzlingly acted and directed. Miss Davis is grand and restrains all her various agonies effectively. Miss Mary Astor is grand, too,. in a widely different way. She is the first musician we have ever seen on the screen, the first to indicate the hard work as well as the tantrums. Errol Flynn Back, Too. Another star who ,has,been missed for far too long is Errol Flynn, who will be seen between now and the New Year in two shows, “Dive Bomber”, and “Footsteps in the Dark.” The air picture is filmed in Technicolour and its sky scenes show masses of planes magnificently photographed as only the Americans (certainly not the English) know how. "Footsteps in the Dark” gives Errol Flynn his first modern role in three years. Dropping his sword for a walking stick Flynn plays the part of a writer of mystery stories- who likes to get his material at first-hand. Leading a double life because he doesn’t want his wife to know that he is the author of mystery yarns which “debunk” her fellow club members, he finds himself in plenty of trouble. The girl is Brenda Marshall. The only film on the list that this critic has seen—it was privately screened the other night—is “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” the naughtiest, wittiest, most sardonic film that these old eyes have beheld since the war began. The title role is played by Monty Woolley, a New York stage star who looks suspiciously like King Edward VII, beard and all. The lines arc so quick, the dialogue so slick, that the first night of its public release will see this critic Hued up again to see a picture that he could laugh nt through half-a-dozen screenings. Wellington has a treat in store when “The Man Who Came to Dinner” is released. “Puzzling to Asses.” Also bound to create interest of a different sort is “One Foot in Heaven,” a film which has the critics puzzled. It will be worth waiting for. Writing about it in the “Sunday Express” a London critic says:— Extraordinary film, puzzling to assess. It's about a Methodist preacher and his wife and the, struggles he has to, build a church for his flock worthy of the gospel he’s preaching. He wanders from one shabby parsonage to another, beset by incessant trials and the reverses, which come tb a man of independence. He ends up a chaplain in the last war. Warner's have produced the film . ■with meticulous care and delicacy. It is acted with glowing sincerity by Fredrie March as the minister, Martha Scott as his wife.

DE LUXE THEATRE

Anatole Litvak, like most artistic Euro-

peans. has versatility. A co up 16 of years ago he directed a film that, was a triumph in every sense—“ All This and Heaven Too.” This week nt the He Luxe is another example of his many-sided genuis—“Out of the Fog,” a quick-moving, grim drama that, has much in common with “Tho Informer.” But there is the same artistry, the isaine cunning shots that made his first film a world winner. "Out of the Fog” brings John Garfield back to a Wellington screen for the first time in months. This tough, handsome star Is at home in this waterfront drama just as he was in an earlier film, “Blackwell’s Island.” His fellow-star is Ida Lupino,- the little girl who, despite the great acting traditions of her famous English family, has, until lately, merely been a pretty face and a good voice to filmgoers. But she was “discovered” in. "Ladies in Retirement” and moves a step further up the acting ladder in "Out of the Fog.” Another interesting name is that of Thomas Mitchell, who comes near to stealing every scene in which he appears. This veteran star, now being considered for the titile role in a film life of Winston Churchill, is an asset to any show. Thoroughly nonsensical, and likely to prove popular with people in uniform—and that includes everybody—is “Snuffy Smith, Yard Bird.” the other film on the programme. It stars Bud Duncan and Edgar Kennedy. There is chapter two of the new serial. "Gang Busters,” and today, by way of encouraging the children to the big, popular theatre in Courtenay I‘lace, a gift will be given to the first 500 children attending the matinee.

MAJESTIC THEATRE

I.ast weekend made history for the Majestic Theatre. Tne attendance broke every record since Sir Benjamin Fuller’s huge playhouse opened a dozen years ago. And that Is saying a great- deal when one recalls the really line pictures that have been shown there, And the reason for it all? A film that stars a girt who, a short time ago was playing small parts tor the Birmingham' Repertory Theatre. Greer Garson probably draws the audience in the lirst place. But. there are other memories to leave with: the baby faces that coo or cry, smile or sigh and completely capture every woman, ■■and , not a few of the men; the magnificent colour; the lengthy but economically-told story of the girl whose life is devoted to removing the taint of illegitimacy from the childron of Texas. “Blossoms in the Dust’ is not a sensational picture in the orthodox meaning of the word, but it is provoking more talk in Wellington this week than any other picture since "Gone With the Wind.” Walter 1* id geon more than justifies the high hopes his producers hold for him.

OPERA HOUSE

He's a wicked old man, this Laughton. He shambles to the centre, of the stage, the most disreputable, sly old codger imaginable, and then proceeds to steal ever scene. And this happens despite youth, beauty, spectacle and music. It is very reasonable that Deannt Durbin, after “It Started with Eve,” refused to ever appear again in a film with Charles Laughton, He meandered and mooned to such effect in that film that even Deanna’s glorious singing seemed of importance. In “The Tuttles of Tahiti,” at the Opera House, he has scarcely any opposition at all. The cast is good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the artistry of the veteran. As Jonas Tuttle, he is the most childish, improvident old rapscallion in the whole of Tahiti. Ari head of the House of Tut be biH responsibilities—a mother, sons, daugnters, grandchildren and innumerable hangers-on—worry him not a rap. He is always in debt, always delighting tn a gamble, always willing to lie in tho sun and let come what may. This is a good little show. For Laughton fans it’s tne tops.

PLAZA THEATRE

It would not be surprising if, gleeful at the success of an old-timer like “Twin Beds,” producers decided to launch into a series of films based on such time-hon-oured and risque farces as "Up in Mabel’s Room” and "The Cradle Snatchers.” Thus popular film, "the* funniest thing on eight legs," as the publicity so brightly describes it', is having a phenomenally successful run at the Plaza, where it ran into a fourth week yesterday. Joan Bennett, who was once suspected of having had her day, is the girl in the case which is mostly concerned with a great deal of running in and out of A honeymoon suite, while busband ami friend grow doubtful of each other’s intentions. Miscba Auer, unforgettably idiotic in shirttails, advances his reputation as one of the screen’s drollest comedians. George Brent puts himself back in the first flight with a good performance, too.

TUDOR THEATRE

Allowing her sarong to become a piece of clothing and not a musical comedy excuse, Dorothy Lamour plays onp of her few serious roles In Samuel Goldwyn’s ‘•The. Hurricane/’ which has come back to the Tudor this week. This exciting' film, one of the most realistic portrayals of the South Seas, reaches its highest moment in the storm from which it derives its name. A splendid cast includes Jon Hall, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey and Thomas Mitchell.

Starring Major David Niven (outranked b.v Dorothy Lamour in tlie other film, for she is a colonel in the American Army), “Raffles” is a sound piece of film craftsmanship which goes to demonstrate the versatility of 'Samuel Goldwyn. Olivia de Ilavilland is also in the cast.

State Theatre. —With no real social import. but entertaining is “A-lias Boston Blackie,” now al the State Theatre. It opens with a prison “break” while sirens howl and squads of wardens and police throw out a net for the murderer, who has proved the axiom that “stone walls do not a i»rison make.” Rut apart, from its prison scenes, “Alias Boston Blackie” has a keen story of a murder, a midnight revue and a dancing girl. Chester Morris is again Boston Blackie. The girl is a newcomer, Adele Mara. The State this week also provides another chapter in tho life of the Biimstead family, with “Blondie Goes to College.”

State Theatre (Pct one). —One of the funniest farces of singe and screen, “My Wife’s Family,” is showing at the State Theatre, Petone. Mother-in-law meets her Waterloo as “hubby” asserts himself in no mean manner. Charlie Chapham, John Warwick, and Patricia Hoc are the principal mirthmakers. SUBURBAN THEATRES Rivoli (Newtown). — “The Fleet’s In.” Dorothy Laniour, William Holden; “Sing For Your Supper,” Jinx Falkcnburg, Charles Rogers. Kineinit (Kilbirnie). — “The. Bugle Sounds.” Wallace Beery. Marjorie Main: “The Black Sheep of Whitehall,” Will Hay. Capitol I Mira mar). —“Ships With Whir'

produced with the co-operation of the Fleet Air Arm; “Mr. Bug Goes to Town,’ full-length cartoon musical. Vogue (Brooklyn).—“Turned Out Nice Again,” George Form by, I’eggy Bryan; “Riser and Shine,” Jack Guide. Linda Darnell. Empire (Island Bay).— “Dangerous Moonlight,” Anton Walbrook, Sally Gray; “Blue, White and Perfect,” Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes. Regul (Karori). —“Design for Scandal,” Rosalind Russell. Walter Pldgeon; “Keep ’Em Flying,” Bild Abbott, Lou Costello. King George (Lower Hutt). —“A Yank in the R.A.F.,” Tyrone Power, Betty Grable. De Luxe (Lower Hutt).—“Tarzan’s Secret Treasure,” Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan; “Henry Aldrich For President.” the Aldrich Family. • Ascot (Newtown).—“Baek Street,” Margaret Sullavnn, Charles Boyer; “River’s End.” Dennis Morgan, George Tobias. Tivoli (Thorndon). — “Call Out. the Marines,” Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe; “Two Latins From Manhattan,” Jean Davis, Jinx Falkenburg. Prince Edward (Woburn).— “What’s Coo-gin’,” Andrews Sisters. Woody HerHcrman’s Orchestra; “Blue, White and Perfect Lloyd Nolan, Mary Beth Hughes. Seaside (Lyall Bay).—“Quiet Wedding,” Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr; “Power Dive.” Richard Arlen, Jean Parker.