FILMS AND STAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 113, 11 April 1940, Page 10

FILMS AND STAGE

Musical Triumph. If you never see another picture this year, do not miss "Rose Marie,” I scintillating production co-starring I Jeanette AlacDonakl and Nelson Eddy, which comes to the Meteor Theatre on Saturday. It is one of the best to come oiit of Hollywood. The glorious voices of the co-stars ring out in the familiar tunes "from the Herbert Stothart-R udolf Friml score, ‘-Rose Marie, 1 Lovo You,” "The Indian

Love Call,” "Song/of the Mounties,” “Pardon Me, Madame,” “Totem Pole” and many more. Again Sergeant Bruce meets anil lalls in love with Rose Marie, in the backwoods country of Qitclxtc. Again their personal duties - hers to save her brot her, his to bring him to justice—run counter to their love. The crashing climax and poignant conclusion .of this famous story will stay in one s memory for a long time. Excellent- in featured roles are James Stewart. Reginald Owen. Allan Jones. George Regas, Rolvert Greig. Una. O’Connor, Lucien Littlefield, and the famous dancer, Gilda Gray. Big Name Cast. One of the most imposing casts of the season, headed by Marlene Dietrich and James Slewart, will be seen in “Destry Rides Again,” opening tomorrow at the Regent 'J heatre. Miss Dietrich in the role of a belle ol the Old West, .and Stewart in the title role, appear with a host of important players including Charles Winninger, Alischa Auer, Brian Donlcvy, Irene Hervey, Una, Merkel, Allen Jenkins. Warren Hymer, Samuel S. Hinds. Billy Gilbert and many others. L 1 or her newest role, Miss Dietrich portrays a gusty frontier entertainer, a character that contrasts sharply with her recent screen appearances. She sings, dances, fights and makes love in typical M estern fashion, James Stewart has the first outdoor role of his career and one that logically follows his outstanding performance in “iMr Smith Goes to Washington.” Three Against the Sea.

A gusty, salty, romantic talc of the first triumph of steam over sail thunders to the screen in “Rulers of the Sea,” which will be presented at the Regent Theatre to-morrow week. Douglas Fairbanks, junr., as a seaman who believes in the future of steam navigation, Margaret Lockwood, as the daughter of an inventor who boasts that he has perfected a steam engine capable of driving a ship across the Atlantic, and the famous Scottish character, Will Fyffe, as the inventor, form a great starring trio. Numbered among the supporting cast, one of the largest and best ever to l>e assembled for a motion picture, are such capable performers as George Bancroft, as a hard-driving captain of a sailing ship,

Montagu Love, as the owner of a ship foundry, David Torrence and V aughan Glaser.

Thri.-e songs, written by as many different composers are lo Is; sung by Dorothy Lamour in “Dance With the Devil.” Tyrone Power plays opposite her. The songs are “'lour Kiss,” "Dancing lor Nickels and Dimes,” and “This Is the Beginning of the rhid.”

Love Rivalry. , , . The malicious efforts of a jealous society girl to break up the'marriage of her ex-fiance and Ids Latin bride form the basis of Lupo Velez’s latest laugli-riot, “.Mexican Spitfire,” which opens to-morrow at the State Theatre. Donald Woods is cast as the advertising man who marries her, while Linda Hayes plays the scheming society deb and ex-fiancee; When the newly married couple return from their honeymoon, Aliss Hayes sets out to smash the marriage by clever conniving. Her nefarious plans work at first and the bride goes to Mexico, and obtains a divorce. She returns to the St- stn

the eve of her husband's reluctant marriage to her rival. From this point on the action, becomes last and furious, with “Whoopee” Lupc Valez taking to the war path. How she gets her husband back after learning her divorce is illegal, ami wreaks revenge against her designing rival, brings the merry story to a hilarious finish.

Arctic Action Drama. , The braverv of men who give their lives that others may live is brought to the screen in “Coast Guard,” hailed by Hollywood as one of the most thrilling a.nd dramatic records ever to be screened. Story of the Coast Guard, the new film comes to the Mayfair Theatre to-morrow, with Randolph Scott, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy and Waller Connolly featured. The

picture reveals the heroic saga of the Coast Guard. The activities of the Service are clearly shown; the cutters patrolling the iceberg lanes of the North Atlantic or guarding seals from the depredations of poachers; aircraft wing over lit 1 le-lreqiiented shorelines and great ambulance ’planes take seriously injured men from shijts al sea. Storms, shipwrecks, Hoods, disaster al sea, hurricanes —these are the elements from which the stirring story of “Coast Guard” is taken'.

A Screen Tonic. “Keep Smiling,” which opens tomorrow at the Kosy Theatre, is one of those screen tonics that come only once in a long while—an infectiously happy, lilting film with a perfect cast. It will send everybody away happier than they have felt in years. Happiness is the keynote of the story. Gracie Fields’s role is one of the finest she has had—leader of a variety troupe, their guide, philosopher and friend, a tower of strength in times of trouble. She has many songs, both comic and “straight,” singing them as only she can. The production itself is on "a lavish scale, with action and thrills going hand in hand with laugh after laugh. There are refreshing village scenes, scenes “down on the farm,” aboard a river houseboat, in London, in the pier pavilion at a seaside resort. The film is one to do justice to the amazing genius of its star, who has an excellent cast in support, including Mary Maguire, Roger Livescy, Peter Coke and “Skippy. ’ Heroic Outcast.

The unusual story of gratitude and unrequited love panned by Victor Hugo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” which comes to the State Theatre on Friday, April 19, is unfolded in a notable film version, starring a master of character portrayal. Charles Laughton, in the role of Quasimodo, the deformed protagonist of the tale. With a panorama of regal pageantry and spectacular splendour achieved by the use of massive settings and a record cast of 3500 players, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” tells the poignant story of Quasimodo, the outcast bellringer of the cathedral, who falls in love with the beautiful gipsy Esmeralda. When she spurns the High Justice of I’aris, who covets her, he sends her to the gallows for a crime which he himself committed. Quasimodo comes to her aid, to save her life in the gripping climax. Known as one of the dramatic classics of literature “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” features a reprmluction of the cathedral, Sain to Chapelle and other landmarks in giant settings. Racket Exposed. In “Missing Evidence.” which opens to-morrow at the Mayfair Theatre, the

manner in which counterfeit sweepstakes ticket racketeers operate affords the basis for a timely and thrilling action drama. Almost everyone has entertained. the Utopian dream of winning a vast fortune. Looking at the pictures of the bewildered but happy face of a porter in San Francisco, a painter in Chicago, or a seamstress in New York who has suddenly acquired thousands of dollars on a winning sweepstakes ticket inspires the hope that some day others, too, might hold a lucky coupon. As a result, it has been estimated by the United States Government that 20,000,000 dollars leave the country each year through the sale of sweepstakes coupons. "Missing Evidence” deals with an effort to smash a nation-wide syndicate engaged in this racket. Preston Foster portrays a G-Man. lre.no Hervey is seen as a pretty cigar stand attendant who helps him after a tragedy makes her realise she has unwittingly been an accomplice of the gangsters.

Remember Greta Garbo in “Anna Christie” some years ago? It is rumoured that the film will be remade with Bette Davis in the leading role.