AMUSEMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 May 1929, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

EVERYBODYS PICTURES.

JOHNNY HINES IN “CHINATOWN , CHARLIE ’’—TO-NIGHT.

If you want to laugh so hard that you’Jl shake the buttons off your clothes and tremble with anxiety at the thrilling stunts Johnny Hines is now performing, hurry to the Princess Theatre to-night where the comedian is starring in his latest First National jpjctnre “Chinatown Charlie.” You wight know that this new photoplay would he a hilarious thriller, as it is a film adaptation of the old melo-comic extravaganza by Owen Davis, given a hilarious comedy reincarnation by Johnny Hines. And Johnny is at his funniest in the title role of “Chinatown Charlie,” the barker and guide of a sight-seeing bus that takes the credulous to the mystic mazes of Chinatown'and the Underworld. Tile comedian’s most hilarious and thrilling stunt to date is his sensational aerial feat in the picture. Trapped in a Chinese mandarin’s house, he makes his escape by walking over a human bridge of five acrobats, who swing across the Chinatown street from one i ' second storey window to another. And • Johnny manages to make the crossing with’ a basket on his head, balancing himself with a parasol. The basket, he thinks, contains—no, I musn’t tell you! The action of this typical Hinesian mirthquake evolves about a girl who is one of the sightseers, and who possesses a Chinese ring of mystic power. It' seems dveryhod.v in China--town wants the'ring—Johnny would rather have the girl. Smart boy, Johnny. After a series of fast-moving sequences in which laughter takes a crack at exiting.' melodrama, he wins her. Attn, boy, Johnny Hines! C. C. Durr, has surrounded his comedian with an exceptional cast, with Louise Lorraine running off with first honors as the girl. Harry Gribbon is funny as Johnny’s pal, and little “ Scooter ” Lowry wins laughs as a precocious kid. Others scoring heavily are Anna May Wong, Sojin, George Ivuwa, Fred Kohler, Jack Burdette and a score of others. Take this hard-boiled reviewer’s advice—who laughed himself to death—end put Johnny Hines in “Chinatown Charlie” on your must list! | Coming Friday—Hoot Gibson in “Hiding For Fame.”