CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 3, 5 January 1939, Page 17

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE.

"Three Loves Has Nancy," showing at the Regent Theatre, provides proof that originality of theme is not an essential factoi in the production ot a good box ofilc attraction. The heroine of the .story is Nancy Briggs. a country girl blissfully ignorant of city lite Alter a wedding scene.' when the bridegroom failed to , attend, Nancy sets out for New York, where she, becomes a kind of combined nuu^uctixii ana 1.-...: ...

need in the bachelor home ol a successful author (Robert Montgomery > The author has been doing his best to escape a husband-hunter (Claire Dodd> and Nancy unknowingly helps him Complications arise when the author'? friend and publisher (Franchot Tone falls in love with Nancy. It is the human interest of the story that is responsitJf for the picture's appeal The supporting programme is excellent MAJESTIC THEATRE. "The Crowd Roars" starring Robpf Taylor. Maureen O'Sullivan, and Frank Morgan, will tonight finish a deservedly successful season at the Majestic Theatre. Robert Taylor is in the role of Tommy McCoy, a New York slum boy, who, through character and perseverance, earns success and a clean reputation in the professional boxing ring. SI JAMES THEATRE. "Service De Luxe," to finish tonight at the St. James Theatre,' is a fine holiday pick-me-up. The Madison Service in New York does everything for its clients from tying a dress tie .to buying steam rollers, and supplies working minds for those not possessed of them. Constance Bennett, as the supreme dispenser of service, gives what is probably her brightest comedy role to date. PAKAMOUMI THEATRE. "Every Night ai Eight" at the Paramount is a bright musical production which will conclude tonight. When tnrtt girls are caughi satirising tn« autocratic boss m a big commercial office, they turn to the entertainment field for a living. They progress into big money as a national attraction over the air. Charles Laughton in "The Devil and the Deep" will also be shown for the last time. REX THEATRE. "Secret Agent" and "Border Patrolman" conclude tonight at the Rex. "Mr. Moto," the new kind of sleuth who astonished millions of "Saturday Evening Post" readers, proves even more astonishing on the screen as Peter Lorre, the one star who could portray J. P. Marquand's diffident Japanese to the life. He undertakes the role in "Think Fast, Mr. Moto," Twentieth Cen-tury-Fox picture which opens tomorrow at the Rex. "The Big Show," starring Gene Autry, was filmed against the background of the Texas Centennial Exhibition which was built at a cost of 25,000,000 dollars. The picture gives Autry an outstandingly good opportunity to present several new song hits in his inimitable style which has made him the favourite of audiences all over the world. The cast includes Kay Hughes, Smiley Burnette, and four big orchestras; ROXY THEATRE. Proclaimed as. the greatest motion nicture ever iriade of an undersea bpati "Submarirte^D^F'-will -fiinisfir ionigHf^ff: the Roxy Theatre. The supporting filiij is "Vivacious Lady," with Ginger Rogers in the lead. A romance between a fire-eating belle of the Old South and a handsome young soldier sorms the plot of Paramount's epic drama of the Reconstruction period, "The Texans," screening at the Roxy Theatre tomorrow. . Lovely. Joan Bennett will be. seen as the belle, who tries to start a one-woman rebellion against Northern rule after the war between the States, while Randolph- Scott plays the impoverished soldier who forces her to adopt his more conciliatory policies towards the union> "Beg, Borrow, or Steal," the supporting feature, is the story of an American-tourist guide who promotes a chateau on the Riviera to carry out a bluff to his family in America. The idea is to use the place for his daughter's wedding, and he calls on his crook pals to pose as nobility. TUDOR THEATRE. "The Return of Jimmy Valentine," featuring Roger Prvor, Charlotte Henry, and Robert Warwick, is the chief attraction at the Tudor Theatre. EMPIRE THEATRE, ISLAND BAT. One of O. Henry's greatest stories, "The Badge of Policeman O'Roon," is now at the Empire Theatre, Island Bay, in Paramount's "Doctor Rhythm," a hilarious musical comedy starring Bing Crosby, Beatrice Lillie, and Mary Carlisle. Dr. Bing goes out masquerading as a policeman to help a friend in distress, and is given a life sentence by the girl he is assigned to guard. Brian Donlevy is back with his old "feuding partner," Victor McLaglen, in "We're Going to Be Rich." McLaglen and Gracie Fields are co-starred in a story about a ne'er-do-well dreamer and his music-hall songstress wife. REGAL THEATRE, KARORI. Universal's latest Crime Club mystery production, "Danger on the Air," is showing at the Regal Theatre, Karori. Gripping drama and eerie mystery scenes are given a most unusual setting, in the interior of a great national broadcasting headquarters, where the intricate plot is developed to its amazing finish. In Universal's romantic comedy drama, "Carnival Queen," Dorothea Kent portrays the heroine who takes personal charge of her carnival and wages a fight to the finish with the thieves. KILBIRNIE ipNEMA. Forced to choose for ever between the man she loves and the son she can never claim for her own. That is the situation confronting Barbara Stanwyck in "Always Goodbye," the new 20th Century-Fox hit now shpwing at the Kilbirnie Kinema. A combination of thrills and laughs and romance is the Warner Bros, mystery-melodrama, "The Invisible Menace," with Boris Karloff as its star. There are as many laughs as there are nerve-tingles in the movie—and Boris doesn't even wear j an outlandish make-up. He plays an ordinary, middle-aged civil engineer, and there's nothing horrifying about J;hat breed. CAPITOL THEATRE, MIRAMAR. Thrills of the racetrack form the background for a dramatic story in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry," which is showing at the Capitol Theatre, Miramar It introduces Ronald Sinclair, Hollywood's latest find in British boy actors. "Hopalong Ca_sidy Returns," another of the Harry Sherman productions based oa a Clarence S. Mulford story, presents William Boyd again as the favourite Western hero, It strikes a new note by casting a woman, Evelyn Brent, as the chief villain in the plot. SEASIDE THEATRE, LYALL BAY. ' One of the greatest comedy casts ever assembled in Hollywood, including Alice Faye, Adolphe Menjou, Gregory Ratofr, Ted Healy, Patsy Kelly, Michael Whaleri, and the Ritz Brothers, is featured in "Sing, Baby, Sing," Twentieth Century-Fox production, at the Seaside Theatre, Lyalt Bay. "Educating Father.' new Fox film, featuring The Jones FpmHy, is also being presented. It is gHkapfsy comedy of life with an average American family. j

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

KING'S THEATRE.

I What must be regarded as the high • water mark in motion picture produe t tiou is reached uj 3 Walt Disney ; animated cartoon version oi 'Snow I I White and the Seven Dwarfs' which ' r { is showing in its second week at the J King's Theatre. From the back- , ground of sunshine, birds, forest E animals, and flowers against which the dainty figure 01 Snow White demurely steps, to the grey storm-shot scenes against which the wicked queen does 1 her tricks, the whole tale develops as 1 a brilliant spectacle. Then there are the seven dwarfs. From the jolly ■• old Doc. to the cubber-faced Dopey. ■ they make an almost human ap- > peal, with their irrepressible joyful-i - ness and quaint antics They are. vi 1 deed, a tonic. Even Grumpy, in spite ot his rigid dislike of females, has a way with him, and life wouldn't hold much fun for the little old men without Sneezy and his whirlwind fits of hay fever The musical setting fits , the story perfectly This picture is 1 supported by a series of entertaining • shorts, among them newsreels of more ; than usual interest. r 5 PLAZA THEATRE. Shirley Temple scores another great success in "'Little Miss Broadway." at the Plaza Theatre. The story revoives round the adventures ano mis adventures of a crowd of v udeville artists living in a boardms-houp<= un ■ der threat of removal, and will be 1 screened for the last time tonight. ; DE LUXE THEATRE. : "Rich Man, Poor Girl" is showing • at the De Luxe Theatre for the last time tonight. Robert Young, a multi- • millionaire, makes no secret of his affection for Ruth Hussey, his secretary, and he asks her hand in marriage. "The Last Exbress' 'is a thriller of intense dramatic action, starring Kent Taylor. "Love is on the Air," Warner Bros.' radio drama featuring Ronald Reagan and June Travis, is a novel and thrilling mystery story, involving a gang-ster-controlled political administra- '• tion, exposed through the power of . radio broadcasting. This drama comes to the De Luxe tomorrow. A promi- [ nent business man disappears, and while the police officials are helpless in their attempts to unravel the mystery, a radio news broadcaster ferrets out the mob behind the scheme of intimidation, bringing to justice the • higher-up politicians, party to the plot. Presenting Edward G. Robinson in an 1 entirely new characterisation far removed from his famous gangster roles, ' Columbia's "I Am the Law" is the associate feature. , > > ■ ■ ■ . ''.'.' STATE THEATRE. ' Jane ;Withe/s returns to the screen ■ in "Miss Fix-it," which is to be shown ; for the last time tonight. The sup- . porting film, "Speed to Burn," featuring Michael Whalen and Lynn Bari, is a thrilling tale of the race tracks. Announced as the first of 20th Cen-tury-Fox's new Roving Reporters series, "Time Out for Murder" opens tomorrow at the State Theatre, with Gloria Stuart, Michae 1 Whalen. and Chick Chandler featured. The series will deal with the hair-raising and sometimes hilarious adventures of an ace reporter and his wise-cracking photographer, played by Whalen and Chandler. Two attractive young girls, i out on their . own, with ; a positive • talent for becoming involved" -iri^exciting escapades, will be the subject of a new film series by 20th CenturyFox, known as the Big Town June Lang and Lynn Bari are featured in the roles, and "Meet the Girls," first of the series, will also be shown at the State tomorrow. NEW PRINCESS THEATRE. "Second Best Bed," starring Tom Walls, and "King of the Newsboys" will conclude tonight at the New Princess Theatre. An all-star cast headed by Ray Milland, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Burns, and Martha Raye, a setting in romantic southern Mexico, six new songs from Mexico's most popular composer, and a gay story about mad Hollywood people are the main attractions of Paramount's musical fiesta, "Tropic Holiday," which comes tomorrow to the Princess Theatre. In this comedy, a bored screen writer, Milland, runs away 1 to Mexico to forget his work, and finds Dorothy. Lamqur, who makes him forget everything. • The associate feature is British Empire Films's "I See Ice,"' starring that popular comedian George Formby* GRAND THEATRE, PETONE. "Alcatraz Island" is the attraction now at the Grand Theatre. The story deals with a powerful racketeer, (John Litel), whose one wish, when he is imprisoned for income 'tax evasion, is to rejoin his daughter, now in love with a district attorney (Gordon Oliver) and his own sweetheart (Ann Sheridan). This desire is thwarted time and again by a former mob-man seeking revenge. STATE THEATRE, PETONE. "That Certain Age," Deanna Durbin's latest starring production is at the State Theatre. The picture is the fourth to come from this remarkable smging youngster wno has made screen history ever since she first appeared in "Three Smart Girls' some two years ago. Cast in a. supporting role in "Three Smart Girls." the production was hardly started before Universal studios realised they were in possession of a wonder child PALACE THEATRE. PETONE. George O'Brien has another twofisted role in "Painted Desert," which is now showing at the Palace Theatre. Fist fights, gun battles, hardnding, and some of the most spectacular sequences ever filmed are woven i into the fabric of this exciting picture. i Laraine Johnson has the feminine s lead. "Talent Scout" tells of what • goes on behind the making of pictures r and stars Donald Woods. Jeanne Mad- ; den, and Fred Lawrence. ! THE NICOLA COMPANY. ; New features are included on the Srogramme now being presented by . ficola and his company at the Grand : Opera House. Foremost among these is the much-discussed, but seldom ! seen, Indian rope trick He is the only white man to have ever performed this illusion Another outstanding feature on the programme is what Nicola claims as the absolute triumph of his ; many years of study with magic. Ent titled "The Wizard's Dream," it takes 5 the form of a magical playlet embody- . ing four or five illusions which even have the professional magicians of the f world baffled. Al de Clercq, the last » of the Hollywood hillbillies, also gives . a new and diverting act. Among 1 the company appearing with Nicola 5 ara Lucille Roberts, "the girl with the 5 X-ray eyes," Miss Marion Eddings. . Nicola's principal assistant. Sherry and » Alf, Broadway comedians, and Dobsky, Nicola's awkward assistant, who blunders consistently through the performance ■Miss Lucille Roberts, ti. mentalist, « will givp a special matinee, for ladies [ only, on Tuesday next. ! DRUIDS' PICNIC. 1 The combined Druids' picnic was » held on Monday at the Hutt Race--1 course, when some 300 Druids and ; friends enjoyed a very fine outing in i ideal conditions. A very able commit' > tee worked all day, and the sports and j games went with a real swing.

TIVOLI THEATRE. "The Great Garrick," starring Brian Aherne and Olivia de Havilland, and "Mountain Justice," with George Brent and Josephine Hutchinson in the lead, 1 will conclude tonight at the Tivoli Theatre. Launching Hollywood's newest find in British boy actors, the New Zealander, Ronald Sinclair, "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry " new drama of childhood loyalties played against the panorama of American racing, will provide entertainment in a new form at the Tivoli Theatre tomorrow. Thrills of racing abound. Crooked Turf operations are exposed. Yet the story is not a racing story, but the poignant tale of the friendship and loyalty of three youngsters and a race track boardinghouse keeper. Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, and Mickey Rooney, playing a young jockey, complete the dramatic quartet. How a high-spirited Broadway beauty yearning for romance marries a repressed college professor and then is obliged to live apart from him and keep the • marriage secret forms the unique central situation in the Ginger Rogers picture "Vivacious Lady," in which James Stewart is co-starred. RIVOLI THEATRE. "It's Love I'm After," starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard, and "Letter of Introduction," starring Andrea Leeds and Adolphe Menjou, will be shown finally tonight at the Rivoli Theatre. The contrasting romances of two beautiful sisters during a family's struggle for happiness form the basis of "Mother Carey's Chickens," R.K.O. Radio picture, to begin at the Rivoli Theatre tomorrow. Marking a definite deviation from the current screen melange of thrillers, madcap comedies, and. heavy dramas, "Mother Carey's Chickens" is a rousing and entertain-1 ing picturisation of the immortal family portrait by Kate Douglas Wiggin. The down-to-earth sentiment and rich American lore which endeared "Little Women" to millions of screen-goers are prominent in "Mother Carey's Chickens." Thrills of a great horse race, inner machinations of race track crooks, and intrigue of the betting ring, provide a thunderous background for a heart-gripping story of friendships and loyalties of youth in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry," the associate feature starring the New Zealand boy Ronald Sinclair. OUR THEATRE, NEWTOWN. Maurice Chevalier and Jack Buchanan are co-starred in "Break the 1 News," the main attraction showing at Our Theatre. Jack Buchanan appears as a chorus boy. His partner, Chevalier, and he consider that their inability to "set the Thames on fire" jis due to tl.e lack of publicity they receive. He stages a murder —of himself; goes into hiding in the South of France, and leaves his ill-fated partner to be tried for the supposed crime. His plans go awry, however, and it is only in the nick of time that he is able to save his friend from the gallows and achieve the notoriety on which he has set his heart. "Command Performance," starring Arthur Tracy, is the associate feature.