ST. JAMES

Evening Star, Issue 22450, 22 September 1936, Page 13

ST. JAMES

Exceptionally popular as a silent film, and more so as a talkie, that amusing comedy, ' Three Live. Ghosts ' has been filmed again, this time by Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer, and the many hilarious situations seem as fresh and entertaining to-day as they did when ' Three Live Ghosts ' was first written. The film forms the chief item, on the current programme at the St. James. M.G.M. were fortunate in being able to secure two of the members of the cast of the first talking screen version of the story—the quaint old lady Beryl Mercer and that inane but very entertaining actor Claude Allister. Beryl Mercer again plays the role of Mrs Gubbins, the Cockney woman who ioves her drop of gin more than anything in life, with the exception, perhaps, of a reward she hapes to collect from Scotland Yard. Mr Allister is seen as a shell-shocked soldier who escapes from a war camp and arrives back in England when the armistice is signed, and after many adventures, including robbing his own home and kidnapping his own child, turns out to bo a titled man. The romance in the film is supplied by Richard Arlen and Cecilia Parker, and further comedy by Charles M'Naughton (a typical Cockney) and Nydia Westman, a Cockney girl of very limited intelligence. All the original dialogue is . adhered to, and the film keeps the audience in ripples of laughter from start to finish. 'THE 'FRISCO KID.' ' The 'Frisco Kid,' Warner Brothers' dramatic picturisation of the thrilling days of old San Francisco when the Barbary Coast seethed with activity and life. and within its borders was the wildest adventures, is the next attraction for the St. James. An allstar cast is headed by James Cagney, who is supported by Margaret Lindsay, Iticardo Cortoz, and Lili Damita. There are more than 40 persons hi the principal roles, and thousands in the gigantic mob scenes. Barbary Coast at the time swarmed with every sort of adventurer, including miners going or returning from the gold fields, ticket-of-leave and fugitive criminals from the penal colonies of Australia, gamblers, dive-keepers, and women of the underworld from every part of the country. It was under these conditions that the famed vigilantes were organised to hang murderous miscreants and burn dives that got out of hand. How they succeeded in their object in the face of stern resistance makes excellent entertainment.