PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23696, 2 October 1940, Page 3

PICTURE THEATRES

1 REGENT

Sufficient to justify interest in Warner Brothers’ historical saga, ‘ Juarez,’ which is at the Regent, is the fact that it co-stars Paul Muni and Bette? Davis, generally acknowledged to be tho greatest American dramatic players. In 1863 Napoleon 111. was planning to make Mexico a vassal State of proud France. It is sufficient to say that Muni, as the “ Abraham Lincoln of Mexico,” finds one of his most powerful roles, while Betto Davis does much to add to her great reputation for character parts. DRAMA OF A DOCTOR. ‘ The Secret of Dr Kildare,’ based on Max Brand’s popular story, which will be seen at the Regent on Friday, is third in the Dr Kildare series. Barrymore as Dr Gillespie, and Ayres as young Dr Jimmy Kildare, his protege, head the cast. Helen Gilbert, who leaped to fame as the dramatics teacher in ‘ Andry Hardy Gets Spring Fever,’ plays the mystery patient, « girl with a strange mental malady. Ayres turns detective to discover the source of the malady, and unmasks a quack doctor in so doing. Laraine Day plays the nurse, Mary Lament, his heart-throb in the big hospital. Included in the cast are Lionel Atwill, Nat Pendleton, Sara Haden, Samuel S. Hinds, Emma Dunn, Walter Kingsford, Grant Mitchell, and Alma Kruger.

EMPIRE

‘ Charlie M'Cartby, Detective.’ screening at the. Empire, is a genuine detective thriller laced with a good deal of humour conjured up by Edgar Bergen and shaken by the cheeky little mannikin created out of a block of wood, and who is now more famous than his creator. Others in an excellent cast are Mortimer Snerd —Charlie’s opposite number, as dumb as they made them—Constance Moore, Robert Cummings, Warren Hymer, and Harold Huber. THRILLING ACTION. With Chester Morris, Anita Louise, Buck Jones, and Ona Munson topping a cast of outstanding players, and with a story filled with swift action and thrilling drama, the Republic picture • ‘ Wagons Westward’ will have its initial showing at the Empire on Friday. Chester Morris plays the dual role of Tom Cook and his twin brother, David, with sureuess, fire, and deep sincerity, portraying a cruel, sadistic killer on the one hand and a fine, clean-cut Government officer on the other. Ona Munson appears in one of the dramatic roles of her screen career as a dance hall entertainer who tries to protect her younger sister (Anita Louise) from the wiles,of outlaw Tom Cook. The final episode 'of the serial ‘ The Green Hornet ’ will also be shown.

GRAND

Superb characterisations by Frieda Inescort, Otto Kruger, and Rochelle Hudson—fitting enactments of persons whose problems are absorbing and authentic make Columbia’s ‘A Woman Is the Judge,’ which had its first local screening at the Grand today, one of the most enthralling films in recent months, An engrossing story of a woman jurist,suddenly called upon to,decide the fate, of her own daughter, accused of murder, the new attraction is a deft, moving tale of the machinery ,of the law and of the people who become enmeshed in its relentless coils. The fine portrayals and engrossing detail with which ‘ A Woman Is the Judge’ abounds lend force and drama to the film. A noted woman jurist, Mary Cabot, is honoured in her community for the fairness, courage, and intelligence with which she metes out justice. ‘ A Woman Is the Judge opens with Mary Cabot at the height of- her career on the Bench. Suddenly she resigns. ,She takes over the apparently thankless task of defending a young girl accused of murder, and successfully wins the underworld waif’s acquittal. A novel note in ‘Outlaws of the Prairie,’ the supporting film, is the introduction of four range ballads, typical of the ones siing by generations of cowboys. Donald Grayson sings the songs, accompanied by the Sons of the Pioneers, a unique musical and vocal quintet. The songs should prove most popular.

STATE

Darryl F. Zanuck’s production of 1 Drums Along the Mohawk ’ is at the State. ■ Filmed in the latest technieolour, with Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda in the starring roles, this Twentieth Century-Fox picture contains unsurpassed action. The story is based on. the best-selling novel by Walter D. Edmonds of the stirring days of adventure and romance when America was young. CRONIN ADAPTED. There can be few who have not road or at least heard of the popular story ‘ The Stars Look - Down,’ by Dr A. .1. Cronin. _ This grand story of the coal mining industry and of the men who toil and sweat below the ground made Cronin’s reputation. This story has now been filmed, and, if anything, has been strengthened by its adaptation to the screen. It will come to the State on Friday. Few British pictures have ever been made with a finer cast or with more realistic spectacle and tense drama than ‘ The Stars Look Down,’ which co-stars Michael Redgrave, Mar§aret Lockwood, and Eralyn Williams, upporting these three are Nancy Price, Edward Rigby, Allan Jeayes, Linden Travers, Cecil Parker, Milton Rosnier, ■and George Carney. The story, as is generally known, deals with the hopes and aspirations of a studious young miner, David Fenwick, who sacrifices his ambitions for pretty, shallow little Jenny Sunley, who lets him down in preference to the unscrupulous selfmade Joe Gowlan.

OCTAGON

STRAND

ST. JAMES

MAYFAIR

‘Talking Feet,’ at the St. Janies, is a production which provides entertainment of a particularly enjoyable character. Prominent in the cast are several world-famous artists and performers, of whom at least two are well known in Dunedin, and, in addition, tho story is at once appealing and convincing. Mark Hambourg, the famous pianist, and William Heughan, the Scottish baritone, are included in the cast. There is a varied and entertaining programme of short subjects. A NEW ROBINSON. Stark drama at a fast pace through Edward G. Robinson’s first great sympathetic role, as vivid and as tense as anything ho has ever done, will make a noteworthy contribution to film en-

tortainment at tho St. James, where ‘ Blackmail ’ will be screened on Friday. It is an entirely different Robinson that comes to the screen in this picture. There is a distinctive new quality to his performance as he plays the sympathetic role of an honest citizen who is uprooted from his family, thrown into a prison camp for a crime ho did not commit, and who gradually changes from a man whose strongest emotion is love for his wife to one whose bloodlust and only motivating desire is to wreak some terrible vengeance on the betrayer whose duplicity placed him behind prison bars. The associate production will be the comedy ‘ Blockheads.’ starring Laurel and Hardy.

‘ Rebecca,’ the film version of Daphne du Maurier’s novel, continues to attract large audiences to the Octagon. Laurence Olivier gives a masterly portrayal as Max de Winter, a sombre Cornishman, and Joan Fontaine rises to inspiring heights in her delineation of the role of de Winter’s second wife. The story is dominated by the influence of de Winter’s first wife, Rebecca, who, though dead, almost succeeds in wrecking the couple’s happiness. SONJA HENIE COMEDY. Sonja Heuie’s latest Twentieth Cen-tury-Fox picture is thrillingly different from anything this famous star lias yet done on the screen and makes plus entertainment for anyone. With the aid of Ray Milland and Robert Cummings, who as a pair of enthusiastic young reporters after a big scoop fall for Sonja simultaneously, there is an excellent comedy note injected. The timely story centres on an exiled statesman startling the world with his revelations and pleas for peace from his Alpine hideaway. Darryl F. Zanuek selected Irving Cummings to direct, and this screen veteran has given Blanktown an enjoyable picture everyone ought to see. ‘ Everything Happens at Night,’ a Twentieth Century-Fox picture, will be shown at the Octagon on Friday.

There is good general entertainment at the Strand this week. The main feature is ‘ Zanzibar,’ an exciting tropical melodrama which has as its basis the quest of a party of explorers for the skull of a native ruler—an object which is regarded with veneration by the natives and the loss of which has provoked tribal rebellions. The second feature is ‘ Blondic,’ another of tho series of the adventures of tho Dagwood family. MYSTERY AND WESTERN. Wayne Morris, Margaret Lindsay, and William Gargan share stellar honours in Universal’s ‘ Double Alibi,' a new kind of mystery picture, which will he shown at the Strand on Friday. Morris plays an unusual triple role as a murder suspect, a detective, and a newspaper reporter, while Miss Lindsay likewise is a reporter, and Gargan her lovelorn editor. “ Hop-along ” Cassidy’s quick-trigger thinking clears an innocent man in 1 Hidden Gold,’the supporting feature.

Featuring the days of lawlessness during the great land rush to Oklahoma in 1889, ‘ The Oklahoma Kid ’ brings .Tamos Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane, and Donald Crisp to tho Mayfair to-day. King of Alcatraz,’ which supports, is a racketeering drama starring Llovd Nolan, Robert Preston, and Gail Patrick.