AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 333, 14 January 1937, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS.

Plaza Theatre. \ “Private Number.” Starring- an exciting new love team, handsome Robert Taylor and lovely Loretta Young, “Private Number,” the new Fox triumph at the Plaza Theatre to-day arid to-morrow, is being acclaimed one of the year’s outstanding romantic hits. Taylor’s debonair manner and youthful banter complements Miss Young’s beauty and wide-eyed appeal perfectly. And, added to the thrilling love story, is suspense, drama and comedy by the irrepressible Patsy Kelly. Basil Rathbone and Marjorie 'Ga'teson are also featured prominently in the supporting cast. “Private Number” was directed by Roy Del Rath, with Raymond Griffith associate producer. The screen story was written by Gene Markey and William Conselman, based on a play by Cleves Kinkead. “The King Steps Out.” No backstage story, no climb to th 6 Metropolitan, but a charming tale of a royal romance in Austria brings the golden-voiced Grace Moore to the screen again, singing melodies composed by Fritz Kreisler in “The King Steps Out,” which shows at tihe Plaza Theatre on; Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. When a love story is involved, there must be a lover, and in that enviable role is Franchot Tone as a reckless, merry monarch, Emperor Francis Josef. Briefly, the story concerns Princess Elizabeth, daughter of bluff, beer-loving Duke Max, whose Bister-in-law is the mother of the Emperor. The Duke’s wife arranges a marriage between the young Emperor and their daughter Helena, without the latter’s knowledge or consent; the girl is in love with a count attached to the Emperor’s personal staff. Elizabeth, or Cissy, as she is called, and her father the Duke, follow incognito to the Emperor’s court, where the ruler meets the saucy and pert Cissy. He finds her, in her role of a dressmaker, more charming than her sister, to whom he is engaged. Cissy leads him on,and. agailist a gay and picturesqu e background, the story mounts to its happy finish. King’s Theatre. “Baboona.” Without a doubt one of the most astounding revelations of the motion picture era is the new Martin Johnson adventure film, “Baboona,” which shows at the King’s to-day and tomorrow. It is the guess of this reviewer that "Baboona” will furnish you with th® biggest thrills, the most engaging “real lite” comedy and the most compelling adventure sequences you have ever beheld on a screen. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson—the greatest present-day” explorers of wild lands —have dazzled the world time and time again with their exploits, and with their photographic records of gigantic conquests against trmeendous odds. But “Baboona” relegates to second place anything that they—or anyone elfee —has ever brought out . of the jungle. “When A Man’s A Man.” On the same programme is Harold Bell Wright’s epic of the West, “When a Man’s a Man,” starring George O’Brien. Universal appeal is is what both book and picture possess. The stereotyped version of the West as peopled by desert rats lurking through the sage brush of the dry lauds is abandoned; in place is a vibrant story of modern youth involved in a vital romance. The setting is an Arizona ranch, to which comes a mysterious Easterner, short of money, obviously the gentleman, but silent on his past. He is befriended by a hardened Westerner, changes from playboy to a rugged “man’s man,” and finds himself in the dilemma of his lifetime when he realises that his best friend and himself are rivals for the hand of the same girl.