AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 354, 8 February 1937, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS.

Plaza Theatre. “The General Died At Dawn” A fast-moving story of adventure, intrigue and romance in modern wartorn China, "The General Died at Dawn,” a Paramount picture which shows at the Plaza finally to-night, brings to the screen a thrilling drama which well might have been taken directly from the newspaper headlines. “The General Died at Dawn” presents Gary Cooper again in a soldier-of-fortune role, one which has added greatly to his stature as one of filmdom’s outstanding stars. Playing opposite him—as a woman who uses her beauty as a lure in the high game of international intrigue—is beautiful blonde Madeleine Carroll, young English actress, who is headed for a major position among the great stars. The film is based on the struggle between modern China and the preda-tory’war-lords who are laying the country waste. On the one side is General Yang, ambitious war-lord intent upon crushing China under his iron heel. On the other is a growing people’s movement. Cooper- is in the ranks of this movement. Miss Carroll is the siren in the story and the fastmoving drama carries on to a thrilling climax.

“Forgotten Faces.”

“Forgotten Faceg,” a Paramount picture, a story of tragedy which follows a marriage that crashes on the rocks, opens at the Plaza to-mor-row. Herbert Marshall stars . in the film ,and the excellent supporting cast features Gertrude Michael, James Burke, Jane Rhodes, and Robert Cummings. The story deals with a dapper gambling house operator whose favourite flower is the heliotrope, because he believes that its influence is lucky for him. He returns home one night to And his wife Miss Michael, making love to another man, and in a fit of passion kills her lover. He turns his baby daughter over to his police-ser-geant pal, James Burke, to see that she is properly cared for, and gives himself up to the police. He is sentenced to prison. Years later, when his daughter has grown to womanhood and is about to be married, he learns that his wife has threatened to blackmail the girl. Through years of good behaviour in prison, he succeeds in getting a parole, and manages to change places with the butler in his daughter’s household, so he can be near her and protect her from her desperate mother, When husband and wife meet again, one comes to threaten a young girl's happiness, the other to safeguard it, the result is an explosion that makes for one of the most dramatic climaxes seen in pictures in many months.

King’s Theatre.

“Yellow Dust.”

Chaperones were born to be frustrated, and Jessie Ralph proves no exception in "Yellow Dust,” Richard Dix’s picture of gold and love, showfor the last time. But chaperonage proves to be an amusing highlight of the show with Miss Ralph in the duena role, watching every move of Leila Hyams as she sparks dangerous rivalry between Dix and Onslow Stevens, a mine town boss. Mama is vigilant as a hawk and firm as a rock in trying to sidetrack her daughter’s affections, but she can’t get far when it is stirred by Dix as the daredevil young prospector.

Miss Hyams blazes a trail to fame as an entertainer, singing to the men

along the Mother Lode. The mater- 1 nal apron-strings tighten as the men respond to her charms, however, because she is her practical mother's meal ticket. The determination of the girl to lead her own life, at the expense of conventions of the period, precipitates the story's exciting episodes. Rivalry between Dix and Stevens sweeps to a climax through gun battle, bandit raids, near lynching, and claim jumping. “Adventure In Manhattan.” Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea, as handsome a screen team as ever charmed an audience, romp gaily through the season’s most diverting comedy-romance, "Adventure in Manhattan,” which shows to-night at the King’s Theatre. Supporting Miss Arthur and McCrea are Reginald Owen, Herman Bing, Thomas Mitchell, Victor Kilian, John Gallaudet and George Cooper. “Adventure in Manhattan” concerns the efforts of a former newspaperman turned crime novelist to solve a series of robberies engineered by a master crook. It is a bottle of wits and courage throughout, with a hilariously contrived romance neatly interwoven. As the actress friend of McCrea, Jean Arthur delivers a top-notch portrayal. McCrea enacts his role as j the newspaperman with finesse and • conviction and brilliantly shaded humour, while Reginald Owen makes I of his character the suavely continental criminal genius, one of the most interest screen characters of the year. The production, starting off at a fast pace, maintains it smoothly as the story unfolds, and the terrific suspense that makes the picture so engaging never relaves until the final fade-out. “Eight Bells.” A dirty freighter bound for China on an important mission provides the locale for “Eight Bells,” the locale for “Eight Bells,” the gripping Columbia nautical drama scheduled to be screened at the ‘King’s Theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday. Roy William Neill directed from a screen play prepared by Bruce Manning and Ethol Hill from the play by Percy G. Mandley. Appearing together for the first time, Ann Sothern, Ralph Bellamy and John Buckley enact the leading roles. The voice with a smile always wins! An excellent and very vital example of tha adage is lovely Ann Sothern, who is credited with having one of the most sonorous, one of the clearest and sweetest voices of any female screen star. Miss Sothern adI mits that one isn’t born with splendid diction and smooth tonal qualities. To make a voice pleasing to the ear, after it has gone through the complicated mechanisms of a microphone and sound-recording system, is not an easy job. On the same programme is “Police Car 17,” an action drama of the U.S.A. Police Force, in a thrilling picture from start to finish.