ENTERTAINMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20494, 10 May 1938, Page 10

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT PROGRAMMES REGENT THEATRE “Marie Walewslta” captures with dignity, as well as colour, the many fascinating phases (and personalities) of the Napoleonic regime in Poland. An air of authenticity pervades such scenes as the snowbound Polish village (where Marie first sets eyes on the almost legendary figure of the Emperor), the grand ballroom at the palace of Warsaw (with its delightful scene between the principals), and Napoleon's headquarters in the same town. For all its spectacular and glamorous setting the narrative achieves a simplicity and sincerity other than that revealed by Greta Garbo -and Charles Boyer In their striking portraits of the famous lovers. The excellent, dialogue and the continuity, combined with some of the tensest emotional scenes the screen has created, make the romance unusually virile. The cast has some excellent people. CIVIC THEATRE Taken from the successful novel by P. G. Wodehouse, “A Damsel in Distress” tells the story of a love affair that commenced in a taxicab in London. when Fred Astaire, whose publicity agents. George Burns and Gracie* Allen, have made him a reputation of being a great lover, is endeavouring to escape from pursuing women, and steps into the same taxi as Joan Fontaine (cast as Lady Alyce), who is equally delermined to give her guardian the slip. Lady Alyce's guardian, Keggs (Reginald Gardiner), is left in the hands of the law through trying to force an entry into the taxi, and is reprimanded by lvis employer, Lady Alyce’s mother". He saves himself by telling her of Alyce’s clandestine meeting with the famous American dancer. The story continues in diverting fashion.

STATE THEATRE “Secret Agent,” featuring Robert Young, Madeleine Carroll and John Gielgud, Is a gripping adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s “Ashenden,” and Is the story of a secret serviceman who sets out to thwart a German spy during the Great War. Fluent staging swings the action from London to the Swiss Alps, thence to mid-Europe, where suspenceful events culminate in a realistic train smash, following bombing by British ’planes. The tragic element enters with the cold-blooded killing of a suspected spy. Under the assumed name of “Ashenden,” Edgar Brodie, In private life a best-seller novelist, proceeds to Switzerland, where he finds the secret service has provided him with a woman ally who masquerades as his wife. Thrilling and romantic things mappen as the story works up to its sensational climax. “Fang and Claw” is not only a worthy successor to Frank Buck’s two preceding pictures, but is also radically different in many respects. It evokes thrills by a rapid succession of hairbreadth escapes and breathtaking struggles between man and animal, botli in pursuit and capture.

THEATRE ROYAL The slaying of a great opera tenor before 20.000 witnesses in the famous Hollywood Bowl forms the unusual motivation for “Monlight Murder,” in which Chester Morris becomes a detective. Lavish operatic sequences, showing portions of the opera “It Trovatore” as produced at the Bowl, lend spectacle and lavish music to the uncanny mystery. The ingenious plot throws suspicion on practically every member of the cast untitl its amazing solution in the last few feet of picture. “The Perfect Gentleman,” starring Cecily Courtneidge and Frank Morgan, is an entertaining mixture of comedy, romance and drama. Major Horatio Charteris, a gentleman to his fingertips, keeping up his patrician appearance despite his desperate pecunious condition, has taken lodgings over a flsh-and-chlp shop In Soho. Eventually his creditors catch up with him, and he Is forced to flee to the country to his son John, the vicar of a small village church. The major happens to stumble In upon a tea-party where John and his fiancee. Evelyn, are entertaining the local bishop, from whom they have great hopes in the way of John’s advancement. The major’s free-and-easy speech shock the bishop and leads to some exciting happenings.

ROXY THEATRE Newspaper reporting, humour and romance are delightfully blended in “My Dear Miss Aldrich.” with Maureen O’Sullivan, Edna May Oliver and Walter Pidgeon in the starring roles. The story deals with the sudden inheritance by a small-town teacher Miss O’Sullivan) of a leading New York newspaper and her subsequent endeavours to make herself worthy of the position by becoming a successful reporter. “The Bride Wore Red" is an entertaining film. Joan Crawford. Robert Y’oung and Franchot Tone head the cast. The story of a woman’s struggle to find happiness in the lowly surroundings of her birth offers Joan a fine dramatic role. Deeply human In theme, “The Bride Wore Red” has the recklessness and colour of the waterfront as a background. Miss Crawford portrays the part of a poor girl who, for a few weeks, on the whim of an old man. is given the means to travel in high society. She lays the foundation for her future on a house of happiness built on lies during her month of make-believe.