Round The Shows

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 659, 10 May 1929, Page 15

Round The Shows

MAJESTIC “Q SHIPS’' AND “TRUE HEAVEN” Two entirely different yet equally excellent pictures make up the new programme which will be presented at the Majestic Theatre this evening. They are “Q Ships” and “True Heaven,” which stars Lois Moran and George O’Brien. “Q Ships” is a reconstruction of the most outstanding events in the history of the British mystery ships which did sucli yeoman service in combating the U-boat peril. It has been made with the full co-operation of the Admiralty. Interesting scenes

show the effect which the British onslaught on the U-boats had on the German naval headquarters: the: chase undertaken by British destroyers after the U-boat; the lives led by the brave men who manned the mystery ships and thrilling duels between “Q Ships” and submarines.

ana suomarines. Intimate glimpses of life aboard a. mystery ship are shown, and it will come as a revelation to many people to learn that many members of the crews of “Q Ships” were recruited from among fishermen, dock labourers and engineers. Lieutenant-Commander Auten. V.C., R.N.R., who won his distinction on “Q Ships” service, appears personally in the film, together with many members of his original crew who were with him when liis ship. Stockforce, engaged the German submarine U-08 and sank it. The clever tactics used in luring the German submarines to their doom are remarkably portrayed in the film, which tells of how Auten and his crew, concealed in their sinking ship, waited patiently for hours in order to account for one more German submarine. Based on a magazine story of C. E. Montague, “True Heaven” tells of a young British officer, played by George O’Brien of ‘Sunrise” fame, and a beautiful but mysterious girl, “Judith.” played by Lois Moran. They meet in a strange way. back of the British linos, and romance develops. Then they are separated to meet again within enemy lines when the young officer is trapped, and it is the girl who is confronted with the problem of either giving him up to be shot as a spy or freeing him. It is love for him or loyalty to her country. Her great decision is drama of superlative order. This evening’s entertainment will include a U.F.A. gem. a Majestic Magazine, and new music by Mr. Whiteford Waugh’s Orchestra. “PARADISE” AT BRITANNIA ‘■Paradise.” the big picture now at the Britannia Theatre, stars Betty Balfour with Alexandre D’Arcy. The story tells of Kitty Cranston, daughter of a poor East End clergyman. who helps the household exchequer bv working as a milliner failis tired of her surroundings and longs | for the sunshine and to live a sunny., happy life She is dismissed from her employment, but wins ~000 * n crossword puzzle competition, and her dreams become realities on the Riviera. The reality :is not what she expected, however, and she passes through a lot of adventures before she is rescued bv her doctor lover, and taken back to the drab surroundings and “squawk- ; ing babies” of her East End suburb, ! where she finds happiness and peace. “The Isle of Lost Men,” an unusual tvpe of picture presented by an all-star cast, is also being shown. “THE KING OF KAWAU” UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EFFORT The annual topical and musical farce provided by the University students will this year be given in the St. Janies Theatre, commencing on Friday week, May 17. This show is always bright and topical, and is eagerly looked forward to by a large section of the pubic. This year’s performance is entitled •The King of Kawau,” or Seventy Millions.” .and promises to be particularly amusing. An exceptionally talented cast has been selected, and catchy lyrics and tunes composed. “The King of Kawau” will be presented for a season of seven nights, j The prices and booking arrangements ■ are advertised.

NEW REGENT FINE PROGRAMME The love drama of the happiest people in the world—the first true picture of the South Seas. Many paens of praise have been lavished and will be lavished in the future on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “White Shadows in the South Seas,” the sound-synchronised picture now being presented at the New Regent Theatre. To get this picture the company sent an expedition of 60 men and women more than 5,000 miles from their home studio. They arrived at Tahiti, in the South Seas; encountered terrific hardships, climbed mountains, braved tropical storms, were shipwrecked at sea, lost themselves in depths of jungle never before explored, and returned to civilisation after six months absence with a story the like of which lias never before been shown on the screen. The picture is a triumph of the cameraman, who apparently succeeds in putting his camera where no camera was ever before —or ever expected to be. It is a triumph to Monte Blue who as the beachcomber doctor, gives a performance that at times rises to the very heights of dramatic acting; it is a triumph to the slim and lovely Raquel Torres, who makes her native princess a woman to be truly fought for and loved. But most of all it is a triumph for W. S. Van Dyke, the director, who, when the French officials at the Islands said. “It couldn’t be done” —• went and did it. He has given his story a place among the few' really great motion pictures and he has screened one thrill alter anotlft r with a . pace that never falters lor an instant. His theme is a simple one—the inevitable effect of white civilisation on the simple natives. The white doctor (Blue) struggles intensely to protect them and then —led on by the white man’s instinctive urge for power—causes their destruction. Finally, for good measure, the New Regent programme includes a number of short “talkie” features that are very interesting. There are speeches by Dr. Nansen, the famous Arctic explorer, and by Mr. Herbert Hoover, President of the United States. Songs are sung by Marion Harris, the notable Columbia artist, and there is a short all-talking drama, directed by Lionel Barrymore, entitled, “Confessions.” Finally, there ;u*e Paramount and PaJJie Sound Gazettes. YE OLDE PIRATE SHIPPE A special Novelty Night -will be held at the cabaret on Y'e Olde Pirate Shippe tomorrow evening with dancing until midnight. Special late transport, -will be available and, in addition, a free motor-car service is run between the Shippe and the buses. The story of “The Innocents of Paris.” starring Maurice Chevalier, which will be released by Paramount both as a silent and as a singing and talking picture, closely parallels many actual incidents in the life of the French musical comedy artist. Chevalier was formerly a star at the Holies Bergcres and the Casino de Paris. He sings eight songs in the sound version of the picture.

STRAND “IN OLD ARIZONA” The long awaited Fox Movietone “In Old Arizona” will have its premiere at the Strand Theatre today. “In Old Arizona” has aroused the keenest interest, and its showing here is epochal, for it is the first featurelength all-talking film drama to be made by the Fox Movietone studios, the organisation which pioneered in talking pictures. The cast of more than a score of the leading players in film-land which presents this romantic story of the old south-west is headed by Edmund Lowe, Dorothy Burgess and Warner Baxter, each long-accredited stars, and the supporting cast also includes, in every instance, stars or featured players of world-wide fame. Every one in the large cast is seen and heard in the evolution of this tremendous drama of “The Cisco Kid.” the notorious bandit who roamed the south-west, a killer of men and a breaker of the hearts of women. In the progress of the story a young Irish sergeant, ordered to capture the bandit, falls in love with the bandit’s sweetheart, plots with the girl to capture the Cisco Kid, and is overheard by the object of his search. What happens will thrill the most blase picture-lover. “In Old Arizona” has been called “The Covered Wagon of Talking Pictures,” and it merits the title. Direction is the joint effort of Raoul Walsh, of “What Price Glory” fame, and Irving Cummings, who directed “Dressed To Kill” and “Romance of the Underworld.” Of a score of picture productions which won fame for Warner Baxter in the past, there stand out conspicuously such successes as “Mannequin,” “The Runaway,” “Aloma of the South Seas.” “The Great Gatsby,” “Miss Brewster’s Millions,” “Mismates” and “Ramona.” Dorothy Burgess plays Tonia Maria and Edmund Lowe the role of Sergeant Mickey Dunn. Warner Baxter’s role of “Cisco Kid” is equally outstanding. This great entertainment will also feature an all-talking programme of Fox Movietone celebrities, including Beatrice Lillie (Lady Robert Peel), the famous English stage comedienne. Ben Bernie, the king of jazz, with his band of 16 soloists, and the Royal Hawaiian Singers in a selection of Honolulu melodies. Finally there is a Fox Movietone Gazette with prominent events of the day in sight and sound. JOHN GILBERT’S BEST John Gilbert, whose new starring pic-

ture, “The Masks of the Devil,” a Metro-Goldwyn-M a y e r production, comes to Auckland shortly, believes that until this present picture reached the screen he has never excelled his role in “The Big Parade.” As the young Viennese aristocrat in “The Masks of the Devil,” he has ample opportunity

for characterisation, for he plays a dual personality. Theodore Roberts, Ralph Forbes, Alma Rubens and Eva Von Borne appear in the brilliant cast.

PLAZA “THE SINGING FOOL” Phenomenal success still attends the showing of “The Singing Fool” at the Plaza Theatre. “The Singing Fool” is undoubtedly unusual entertainment, for it is a fine romantic film story as well as a “talkie,” introducing novel singing and vaudeville acts by A 1 Jolson. Famed throughout the length and breadth of Americ and Great Britain as “the singer with a tear in his voice,” A 1 Jolson is to-day the high-est-salaried stage star in the world. Of him, George Jean Nathan, the

celebrated critic, I wrote: “The power lof Jolson over an I a udience I have I seldom seen equaliled. There are lac tars who, backed |up by great draJmatists, can clutch Ban audience in the I hollow of their I hands and squeeze Bout its emotions las they choose. ■ There are singers ■who, backed up by great composers.

aon 2a n do this, and there are performers of divers sorts who, aided by external means of one kind or another, can do the same. But I know of none like this Jolson —or at best, very few —who can lay hold of an audience the moment he conies on to the stage or screen and never let them go for a second thereafter. “Possessed of an immensely electrical personality, a rare sense of comedy, considerable histrionic ability, a most unusual musical show versatility in the way of song and dance, and, above all, a gift for delivering lines to the full of their effect. he so far outdistances his rivals that they seem like the wrong ends of so many opera-glasses.” “The Singing Fool” is, howevr. only one item on an excellent programme. The first piece is “The Tannhauser Overture,” played by the New York Symphony Orchestra, which is also photographed at close range while playing. “In a Monastery Cellar,” featuring Gus Heed, Oscar Bloetz, Charles Hamilton and Oscar Ilal, singing a melody of harmony, including “The Rosary,” “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” “Just a Song at Twilight.” “Down Deep within the Cellar,” and “Drinking.” A comedy and singing number of the sidewalk as they emerge from the opera, “Between the Acts of the Opera,” will present the famous Howard Brothers, who give imitations of the opera artists they have just seen. Another great attraction is the appearance of Mischa Elman, the famous violinist, who is heard in “Humoresque” and the Gossec “Gavotte.” Finally, there is Giovanni Martinelli. the great tenor of the Metropolitan Grand Opera. New York, whose fine voice is heard in a solo from “I Pagliacci.” SUBURBAN THEATRES The Prince Edward Theatre will screen this evening “London Love” (Fay Compton) and “Naughty Baby” (Alice White and Jack Mulhall). Eve Bentley’s orchestra will play. A children’s singing demonstration will be held tomorrow afternoon. At the Capitol Theatre, Dominion Road, the pictures will be “Captain Lash” (Victor McLaglen) and “A Woman from Moscow” (Pola Negri). The Empire Theatre, Dominion Road will show “Golf Widow's” (Vera Reynolds and Harrison Ford); also “Riley the Cop” (Louise Fazenda and Farrell McDonald). The Edendale Theatre will present “The Spy,” the great secret service thriller (Gerda Maurus, Willy Fritsch and Rudolph Klein Rogge). The Grey Lynn Cinema will show “Revenge” (Dolores Del Rio) and “Homesick” (Marjorie Beebe and Sammy Cohen). At the Parish Flail, Devonport, this evening the films to be shown are “Red Hot Speed” (Reginald Denny) and “Adoration” (Billie Dove and Antonio Moreno). The title of Janet Gaynor’s new' Dutch picture, “Christina,” was chosen out of international deference. While it was being produced Fox Film Corporation asked its Holland manager to send a. list of typical Dutch names. This came with the information that the name “Christina” was both the most typical and popular and it was accordingly affixed to the film.

The following paragraph is taken from the Sydney “Sunday News”: ■ “White Shadows in the South Seas” i belongs to the small company of i screen classics—the few pictures in 1•> years’ production since D. W. Griffith 1 set the standard, which are remembered for some greatness or conception and execution. The strength of “White Shadows’’ is enhanced by superb acting. It has life in a naturally beautiful setting, photographed by a camera master. There are wonderful under-water scenes, too, of pearl divers, and the monstrous life under the sea. It will be remembered long for its daring truth and lovely beauty.’