STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 866, 9 January 1930, Page 14

STRAND

“THE GREENE MURDER CASE” Jean Arthur is the “mystery girl of Hollywood.” Within the last few months this blueeyed girl, who vaulted her way into screen prominence, has been cast in three successive mystery pictures by Paramount. Her first was “The Canary Murder Case,” in which she had the ingenue lead opposite James Hall. In “The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu,” she was menaced through eight reels by Warner Oland. Her latest mystery picture is “The Greene Murder the alldialogue adaptation of S. S. Van Dine’s renowned best-seller, now at the Strand Theatre.

As Ada Greene, the Cinderella of the doomed Greene household. Miss Arthur has the best characterisation of her career, according to critics who have viewed the picture. The leading role in “The Greene Murder Case,” that of Philo Vance, is again played by William Powell, who established the part in “The Canary Murder Case.” Others who are appearing in their second Van Dine picture are Eugene Pallette and E. H. Calvert as Sergeant Heath and the district attorney of New York. Supporting the feature picture is a newsy Fox Movietone News, including a chart from Miss Ishbel MacDonald on her arrival in America: a colourful scenic film, a number of delightful vaudeville items, including a remarkable demonstration of falsetto singing by a disguised person; a clever Krazy Kat cartoon and a talking comedy.