PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23682, 16 September 1940, Page 10

PICTURE THEATRES

REGENT

Deserving rank alongside the greatest of all medical strories, the new Paramount picture, 1 Disputed Passage,’ brings to the screen at the Regent an exciting tale of the world of science. The picture deals more with a doctor’s attitude towards his practice than the practice itself. Akim Tamiroß has a suitable role as a world-famous neurological surgeon who scorns all things outside the realm of pure science. This trenchant viewpoint reacts strongly upon the lives of John Howard.

EMPIRE

Lewis E. Lawes, who wrote the story for ‘ Invisible Stripes,’ at the Empire, has always championed the rights _of one-time losers to return to good citizenship after learning their lesson behind prison walls, and it is this theme which underlies the stirring dramatic story of ‘ Invisible Stripes.’ It is the story of two convicts who are released from prison on the same day—one a hardened criminal, the other a first oßender anxious to return to an honest and useful life. The former makes no attempt to mend his ways. The latter tries to find honest work.

GRAND

A fiendish plot to destroy the Panama Canal and trap the American fleet in the wrecked locks is the challenge faced by the famous Earl Derr Riggers sleuth, Charlie Chau, in ‘ Charlie Chan in Panama,’ the main feature in the particularly attractive double-feature programme at the Grand. Sidney Toler once again portrays Charlie. The second feature is ‘ On Their Own,’ another instalment of the adventures of the celebrated Jones family.

STATE

A millionaire’s one-man rebellion forms the laughter-packed theme of ‘ Fifth Avenue Girl,’ RKO Radio’s new starring vehicle for Ginger Rogers, which is at the State. The millionaire is Walter Connolly, who, after years of steadily-increasing neglect on the part of his family, hires Miss Rogers to pose as a gold-digger and stay in his palatial Fifth Avenue mansion as his house guest. His wife and children suddenly become very solicitous about him, and do their best to drive the feminine intruder away—all of which makes for the many uproarious sequences of the film.

ST. JAMES

A favourite the world over by virtue of his unique comedy radio recordings, ‘ Can You Hear Me, Mother?’ Sandy Powell has already starred in two screen comedies. His ‘ Home from Home ’ is at the St. James. Offering Hugh Herbert a chance to romp through seven of the funniest roles in comedy history, Universal’s gay musical farce, ‘La Conga Nights,’ completes theiill.

OCTAGON

With Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine heading a cast of outstanding players and with a story filled with drama, suspense, and mystery, David O. Selznick’s latest production, ‘ Rebecca,’ is still showing at the Octagon. The film was brilliantly directed by Alfred Hitchcock, known internationally as a master of intrigue, crime, and mystery on the screen. ‘ Rebecca ’is the film version of the best-selling novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. It was prepared for the screen by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and retains all the gripping drama of the original book.

STRAND

Revealing the work of G-men as they fight to halt spy activity and prevent theft of vital military plane designs from United States aircraft factories, Universal’s timely film, ‘ Enemy Action,’ is at the Strand. A drama of the underworld life of Chicago is the associate picture. It is ‘ Gangs of Chicago.’

MAYFAIR

Shirley Temple has the finest role in her career in ‘ Susannah of the Mounties,’ at the Mayfair. The film, a light romance of the Canadian North-west Mounted Police, has Margaret Lockwood (‘ The Lady Vanishes ’), Randolph Scott, and Victor Jory in the featured cast. An epic of the west, ‘ Dodge City,’ supports.