ST. JAMES

Evening Star, Issue 22455, 28 September 1936, Page 2

ST. JAMES

‘ Frisco Kid,’ Warner Bros.’ thrilling tale of the glamorous Barbary coast of old San Francisco, is the main attraction at the St. James this week, with an all-star cast headed by James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Ricardo Cortez, and Lili Damita. The picture is set in the colourful background of the early ’fifties, when the waterfront at the Golden Gate was a flaming panorama of gilded gambling halls and palaces of pleasure; when murder, arson, “ crimping,” and robbery were winked at by the authorities, who derived huge revenues in bribes from the denizens of the underworld. The characters are based on historic personages of the time who flocked to the city of gold from every port in the world —adventurers all, ready to risk their fortunes or their lives on the throw of a dice, into this picturesque atmosphere comes a sailor, strong, purposeful, crude, ignorant, but a man of tremendous force and magnetic personality, who rises to be'the master of the coast, and who dares to fall in love with tho most beautiful girl of San Francisco’s highest society. James Cagney and Margaret Lindsay, as tho two characters, carry on this strange romance in the midst of a series of thrilling episodes, when the city is rocked by terrific battles between the vigilantes and the denizens of the coast. More than two score talented actors have important roles in the picture, while thousands take part in the gigantic riot scenes, in which the dens of the waterfront are set ablaze. The leading characters, besides those mentioned, include Donald Woods, Barton Mac Lane, George E. Stone. Josejdi King, Robert M‘Wade, Joseph Crehan. Robert Strange, Joseph Sawyer, Fred Kohler, and Claude Coleman. ‘ PAGE MISS GLORY.’ A stupid chambermaid who is forced to masquerade as “ the most beautiful girl in America ” if the central charac-

ter in the farce ‘ Rage Miss Glory, to commence a season at the St. James on Friday. Two young men living on their wits enter a photograpji, in which i they have combined tho best features of a number of beautiful girls, in a beauty competition. The photograph not unnaturally wins the first prize, and tho authors have to produce the girl whom it represents. An elaborate masquerade is planned, with the chambermaid as the unwilling victim, and from this point onward the story is continuously amusing. Marion Davies, Pnt.y Kelly. Dick Powell, Pat O’Brien, and Frank M‘Hugh head tho cast.