PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23688, 23 September 1940, Page 10

PICTURE THEATRES

STRAND

‘ Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President,’ which is at tho Strand, is the story of Joe and Ethel, who decided to go to see tho President of the United States to get tho postman’s job back after he has been fired for destroying a letter. Lewis Stone proves to ho a very nice President, and complies with their wishes after they tell him the story of Jim, the postman, which is re-enacted in retrospect. ‘ Santa Fe Marshall,’ one of the Hopalong Cassidy series, is the other film on the programme.

REGENT

Greta Garbo’s long dream of playing in a sophisticated, romantic comedy has become a reality with ‘ Ninochka,’ her first picture in two years, which is at the Regent, and tho gay, new Garbo it presents indicates that her desire was well justified. The Swedish star is seen as a gay, ultra-modern girl in a romance with a French count. She dances to swing music, sings, wears glamorous gowns, figures in clever situations and dialogue. Garbo plays a Russian woman raised in the stern Soviet code, who, sent to Paris on a Government mission, falls in love with a count (Melvyn Douglas), outwits her love rival (Ina Claire), and “gets her man.”-

EMPIRE

* Gerouimo!’ the attraction at tho Empire, deals with a phase of the Indian wars in the United! States about which the screen has previously had little to say. The great Apache chief, who for years held off _the_ entire American array in the period immediately after the Civil War, is shown in all his barbaric splendour. No paintedup “ paleface ” plays the part, but a real Redskin warrior, Chief Thundercloud. Towns are swept out of existence, wagon trains attacked, and units of the army ambushed in the authentic style of the gory and dangerous nineteenth-century West.

GRAND

Even more timely to-day than it was when it was first shown to the public, ‘ I Was a Spy,’ which is being presented at the Grand, tells a gripping story most effectively. With the lives of the brave men and women who risked at all times an ignominous death by working behind the enemy’s lines as its inspiration, the film has an authentic background in the life of Marthe M'Kenna, the Belgian nurse. The second feature is a musical film, with comedy interludes, ‘ Around the Town.’

STATE

With George Raft and Joan Bennett sharing stellar honours, and a strong supporting cast featuring Walter Pidgeon, Gladys George, Lloyd Nolan, and June Knight, Walter Wanger’s ‘ The House Across the Bay ’ is showing at the State. The new film production is based on an original story by Myles Connolly, and the central figure in the picture is Brenda Bentley, played by Miss Bennett, a young gin confronted with the problem of adjusting her life to a strange fate when her husband is sent to prison for income tax evasion.

ST. JAMES

Placed in the African jungles, ‘ Congo Maisie,’ which is at the St. James, combines adventure, thrills, and comedy with the problems of scientists battling the superstitions of the natives and brings into vivid relief a cross section of the dives of four everyday people. ‘ Dangerous Fingers,’ the associate feature, is a British production, melodramatic in type and dealing with the war between society and crime.

OCTAGON

‘ Rebecca,’ Alfred Hitchcock’s brilliant screen adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s unusual story, is in its third week at the Octagon. The sombre atmosphere of the Cornish mansion in which the story is unfolded has been faithfully captured by the director, and the performances of the two principals, Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, still further raise the high level of the production. Miss Fontaine plays the role of an unsophisticated girl who marries a rich young Cormshman, whoes life and that of his household is ruled by the spirit of his dead wife.

MAYFAIR

Hedy Lamarr and _ Robert Taylor make a brilliant team in the principal roles of ‘ Lady of the Tropics,’ which heads the bill at the Mayfair. It is a thrilling romantic drama. In support is seen the riotous Universal comedy, ‘ Unexpected Father,’ which stars Baby Sandy, Mischa Auer, Shirley Ross, and Dennis O’Keefe. Auer is left unexpectedly with a friend’s haby.