AT ST. JAMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 566, 19 January 1929, Page 14

AT ST. JAMES

“HIS MAJESTY KING DODDS” ] I GEORGE WALLACE S CLEVER SHOW A most ambitious project successfully carried out is how one can best describe the complete new show put on by George Wallace and his company in their change of programme at St. James last evening. Mr. Wallace and his assistants are now entering the fifth week of their Auckland season and the shows they have put ‘on have maintained an excellent standard, being something apart from the usual run of such shows. Last evening’s programme, however, was more than “something different.” It was strikingly • original, Mr. Wallace having been brave enough to ignore an almost sacred precedent. He has written a show which is unlike any other revue ever seen by Auckland audiences. From curtain to curtain, every item has some, significance in a definite story. The revue is not divided into a number of sketches written round featured members, but is all a connected whole dealing with the adventures of one Tommy Dodds, New Yorker, and, for a time, his Majesty the King of Betonia. Glimpses of Christmas pantomime, real drama, valuable minutes alone with the world’s funniest king—all these are for the audience to enjoy apart from the usual but particularly delightful singing and dancing. The story revolves round the mistake of a nobleman of Betonia who imagines that he recognises in Tommy Dodds, an East Side New Yorker, the abducted King of his country. The bewildered Tommy is shipped with care to the land of his birth where attempts, wholly unsuccessful, are made to teach him to act in keeping with the rank he holds. This affords an opportunity for some excellent fooling between Mr. Wallace, Marshall Crosby, Jim Romaine and Evelyn Dudley. As the result of a dark plot planned by a villainous trio in Si Meredith, Bert Tucker and Evelyn Dudley, it is proved that Dodds is an imposter and, like many greater monarchs before him, he has no choice but to adbicate and forget his former glory. On a boat on the way back to America, his financial affairs get a sudden boost and the deposed sovereign marries his boyhood sweetheart. Also he realises another ambition when he is able to sell pies from his own motor-stall, while becomingly dressed in the most correct of morning wear. The honours of the show fall to its author whose comedy work is evergreen. Dancing and singing, too, are taken as a matter of course by versatile Mr. Wallace. Mr. Crosby’s excellent voice is heard to advantage in “Nirvana,” while demure Marie Nynan heads the feminine vocalists. Jack Scott and vivacious Maida Jones dance and sing with equal success, and the Six Rascals trip on and of the stage in a bewildering number of attractive costumes. A special word of praise is due for the settings which have been planned with unusual attention to detail. A railway accident is celverly dealt with in one setting. Bert Tucker is stage manager and the ballets are arranged by Ivy Moyle. Mr. Wallace has written and produced the whole show and the comedian is to be congratulated on the success of an attempt to tickle the public’s jaded taste. NEW REGENT “THE CROWD” King Vidor, theyman who made “The Big Parade” for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has made a “big parade of peace times” in “The Crowd,” now playing at the New Regent Theatre. The grim horrors of war which formed the background of “The Big Parade” are lacking in “The Crowd,” but there is a background of everyday struggle for very existence that is not as spectacular ’as war but every bit as interesting.

Since Vidor entered the picture industry years ago it has been his ambition to depict upon the screen the daily struggle in the uphill battles of life where a man cannot even resort to arms in his desperation but has to struggle with heart, soul and body against an enemy which never gives way so much as an inch.

Vidor has attained his ambition in his new Metro-Goldywn-Mayer production. “The Crowd.” Just as he dwelt on the little bits of human interest in “The Big Parade,” he has dwelt upon them again in this great picture of peace, the story of which he wrote.

There is no spectacular background of pomp—no booming of guns, no citations for bravery nor decorations for unusual feats upon the field, but there is the same desperate struggle j against an implacable enemy—poverty. Every picturegoer can see himself in the cast —not only himself but many of his friends. The picture does not put its reliance upon the great happenings of life but weaves a story of romance and struggle from the little everyday occurrences. Eleanor Boardman is seen at the height of her career as Mary, and James Murray, three months ago an extra man, proves that he is a natural actor who some day soon will be recognised as one of the most popular male players of the screen. The two are backed by a remarkably good cast, not so much of big names, but of good acting material. The picture will be remembered long by all who Se prom the opening scene of “The Gir' in the Pullman,” the Marie Prevost pic ture, which is the second featurlaughs abound. The fun begins when Dr. Burton, a nerve specialist, practices his art on a ticklish patient whose nerves are all shot to pieces. Th' carry

chuckles carry on to the bitter conclusion. The programme also includes a magnificent Grand Organ interlude, and “Plantation Marie Prevost Melodies” with dulcietone soloists, and quartette. Mr. Arthur G. Frost is in charge of the Regent Operatic Orchestra. “Bachelor’s Paradise’* is the name of a comedy George Archainbaud has been filming under the temporary title “Saturday Night.*’ Sally O’Neill plays the lead, with Ralph Graves, Eddie Gribbon, Sylvia Ashton and Jim Finlayson in the cast. Josephine Dunn sprained her ankle in a comedy scene for “A Man’s Man,” in which she plays opposite William Haines. Work will be resumed when the pretty leading woman has recovered.