AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

THE CURRENT PROGRAMMES REGENT THEATRE What happens when three Bolshevist agents are entrusted in the French capital with the serious business of selling the Russian Crown jewels is the theme of " Ninotchka," the film that is the attraction at the St. James Theatre. Here is' Greta Garbo cast in one of the best pictures of her lifetime. The fact that this is the first picture in her long career in which she has taken part in comedy :s a special attraction to picturegoers. The film has been directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who has turned out 100 polished films that have done him'credit, and the latest effort on his part is sufficient proof that he has not lost his cunning in the art. The great Garbo is cast as a Bolshevist agent whose job is to spy upon the " comrades" to see that they carry through their assignment successfully. How she does it and what happens make up a picture that is far above the average, has topicality to the greatest degree, and reveals something of the humorous—and sometimes tragicmachinations that go on behind the facade of dictatorship. Sig Rumann, Felix Bressart, and Alexander Cranach take excellent roles. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. STATE THEATRE With George Raft and Joan Bennett sharing stellar honours, and a strong supporting cast featuring Walter Pldgeon, Gladys George, Lloyd Nolan, and June Knight, Walter Wanger's " The House Across the Bay " is showing at the State Theatre. 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 girl confronted with the problem of adjusting her life to a strange fate when her husband is sent to prison for income tax evasion. A strong supporting programme is also shewn. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. EMPIRE THEATRE Andy Devitie, Preston Foster, and Ralph Morgan head the cast and most of the action in " Geronimo," now being screened at the Empire Theatre. Kitty Kelly and Ellen Drew provide the romantic interest, and Monte Blue makes a brief, reappearance as an Indian intrepeter. Geronimo, the Apache Indian chief, comes up menacingly in close-up, a soured and brutal savage whose life's ambition is to kill as many white people as possible. Ralph Morgan plays the part of. General Steele, a grim martinet who has sacrificed the pleasures of life with his wife and son from a rather, too-strict sense of duty. Ordered south with 5000 men, and with inadequate and obsolete equipment, the general Is ordered to pacify Geronimo instead of fighting him. With the general, but unknown to him, goes the son he has not seen since childhood, Lieutenant Steele (William Henry). The adventures of the garrison in the fight against Geronimo makes a thrilling story. There is a strong supporting programme, and the box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. STRAND THEATRE William Gargan and Ann Sothern, a lively, life-like, and lovable back-chatting couple, give the film version of Damon Runyon's " Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President," which is at present being shown at the Strand Theatre, just the pace required to make is worthy entertainment. Jim, the mailman in part of Brooklyn, in love with a charming woman with a worthless son, writes beautiful letters to her, which she thinks are from her white-headed boy It is a labour of love; but one day a registered letter from the son arrives, and it bears the inscription of a penitentiary. Jim destroys it and is arrested. It falls to the lot of Joe and Ethel Turp to intercede for Jim, and as if given a special dispensation from heaven, they achieve the impossible—an interview with the president. The president enjoys himself immensely and finds the bickerings of Joe and Ethel and their eager competitiveness in telling the story a wonderful distraction from international politics. So Jim is released. The second picture is " Santa Fe Marshall," another Hopalong Cassldy story featuring William Boyd. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. ST. JAMES THEATRE That amazing young person Maisie Ravier undergoes some extraordinary adventures in South Africa in " Congo Maisie," which heads the current programme at the St. James Theatre. Maisie, as in earlier films of the series, is portrayed by pretty Ann Sothern, who makes of the character a lively and highly diverting person. In the new film she pushes out into the Congo country and makes light of such experiences as an emergency operation requiring her services as an impromptu nurse, and. an uprising of savages led by native and witch doctors. The latter she beats at their own game by feats of vaudeville magic. Co-starring with Miss Sothern is John Carroll, a young player who makes a promising debut as a star. He is described as being " a cross between a Gable and a Grant, without owing too much to either." Rita Johnson, Shepherd Strudwick, J. M. Kerrigan, and E. E. Clive are also In the cast. The supporting picture is " Dangerous Fingers," a thrilling story of a master crook. The box plans are at the theatre, the D.I.C. and Jacobs'. OCTAGON THEATRE Against a background of mystery and eeriness, David O Selznick's production of, " Rebecca," best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier, is now. in the third week of its season at the Octagon Theatre. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, " Rebecca " has Laurence Olivia and Joan Fontaine in the starring roles, while the feature suporting cast includes Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Nigel Bruce, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Denny and Florence Bates. The story of " Rebecca" concerns a young and unsophisticated girl who becomes the bride of the wealthy and socially prominent Maxim de Winter. When they return to live on his vast Tudor estate. Mandei-ley. the second wife learns to her horror that her life is being dominated by the past of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife, a veay beautiful woman who fascinated all who knew her. Furthermore, the memory of Rebecca is kept alive by Mrs Danvers, de Winter's housekeeper. The short supporting programme includes the latest " March of Time." The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg's, GRAND THEATRE " I Was a Spy," the sensational drama of espionage in the last war, heads the current programme at the Grand Theatre. Conrad Veidt, Madeline Carroll, and Herbert Marshall head a strong cast, which includes Edmund Gwenn, Sir Gerard du Maurier, and Donald Calthrop. The story deals with the actual adventures of Marthe McKenna, the Belgian spy, who, working as a nurse in a base hospital, makes use of her position to obtain information from the enemy. Her assistant is Marshall, also on the hospital staff. They brave death in many forms, but finally the woman is arrested and sentenced to death. How she escapes execution brings the story -to an exciting conclusion. The second picture is "Around the Town," an entertaining vavudeville production in which a number of well-known variety stars and radio personalities are featured. Vic Oliver and Lupe Velez have the prln-; clpal roles. The box plans are at the theatre and at Begg's. MAYFAIR THEATRE Glamorous and spectacular is "Lady of the Tropics," which heads the current programme at the Mayfair Theatre, depicting as it does the mixing of races in a love drama that has an extraordinary turn. Set in Indo-China, the story has a background of the mystic East that is Saigon, and tells the struggles of an exotic half-caste beauty, sought with mixed motives by a variety of admirers. Hedy Lamarr plays the leading role, and plays it magnificently, while Robert Taylor is cast as the young American who wins her love and gets her Hand in marriage. In the role she takes. Hedy Lamarr plays with the dangerous intrigues of her barbaric lovers in order to ensure the safety of the man she really loves In the exotic atmosphere created by the temple dances and the weird music and island seascapes the extraordinary characters and reaction are worked out with fidelity to detail, and Joseph Schildkraut plays well Up to ths> two leads. " Unexpected Father," th«> second film, is an hilarious comedy featuring Mischa Auer, Shirley Ross, and Baby Sandy. The box olans are at the theatre and the D.I.C.