ENTERTAINMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20507, 25 May 1938, Page 10

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT PROGRAMMES CIVIC THEATRE ' “Love on a Budget” carries the amusing experiences of the Jones Family a bit further. It deals with the tribulations of Herbert and Ronnie Thompson (formerly Jones), a young married couple. Herbert is determined to furnish the new home when he can afford to pay cash: Bonnie is convinced by Uncle Charlie that the proper method is the dollar-down. dollar-a-week plan. I:i due course this leads to typical spats of the newly-weds. “Everything Is Thunder” is a gripping drama revolving around a British officer's escape from a* prison camp during the Great War. Appealing romantic angles arise from the fugitive's friendship with a Berlin street waif who hides him in her flat. BOBBY BREEN “Hawaii Calls,” Bobby Breen's latest musical starring vehicle, will be screened on Friday. Bobby is presented in an entirely new guise, and as a former San Francisco street gamin who goes to the Hawaiian Islands as a stowaway he handles his role with a refreshing naturalness. If such a thing were possible, his singing voice seems to have increased in sweetness and quality.

THEATRE ROYAL “They Met. in a Taxi” combines thrills, romance and • comedy very cleverly. It, I nils of a pseudoheiress who turns to a taxidriver for help when police accuse her of then of a pearl necklace. Chester Morris and Fay Wray have the featured roles, with such outstanding players as Lionel Standee, Raymond Walburn, Henry Mollison and Ward Bond in support. The story revolves about the plight of charming Mary Trenten (Fay Wray), a dress model, who is accused of stealing a pearl necklace from an heiress bride while modelling the wedding dress in the wealthy girl’s apartment. “Escape from Devil's Island” has the dreaded French penal settlement as the locale for a highly exciting melodrama. Victor Jory is seen as an adventurous international spy who escapes a sentence to Devil's Island only to go there voluntarily in a mad attempt to free his compatriot-in-crime and the father of his sweetheart. REGENT THEATRE “Mad About Music” continues to | attract large audiences. The popular ; Deanna D-urbin appears as a girl at a j fashionable Swiss school; she has no father, and her mother, as a screen actress typifying the modern “glamour girl,” is unable to admit to the world that she has a 15-year-old daughter. The girl is led into telling her schoolI mates that her father is a great explorer, but a climax arises when she declares that he is coming to visit her—and then has to grab the most suitable looking man off the train from Paris and persuade him to support her story, with exciting and amusing results. New supporting films will be screened to-night. “WELLS FARGO” As a saga American life during a critical and vitally important period in the development of a robust people, “Wells Fargo,” to be screen on Saturday. is a valuable contribution to the screen's record of historical productions. ROXY THEATRE “Double or Nothing,” a sparkling musical comedy featuring Bing Crosby and Martha Rave, and “The Last Train from Madrid,” an exciting drama, will be screened to-night. “ Double or Nothing,” which is a gay and irresponsible story of four persons vieing with a criminal lawyer to get a million dollar legacy is the first Crosby picture In which 3:ng uses the same feminine romantic lead for the second time. The honour falls to lovely Mary Carlisle, who appeared opposite Bing for the llrst time in “ College Humour.” Modern war-stricken Madrid is the locale for a new picture woven from the newspaper headlines. The film is “ The Last Train from Madrid,” a story dealing with ten persons, all strangers, caught in the city during its heaviest bombardment, and how their lives and destinies were suddenly made one by a common peril.

STATE THEATRE “Ladies Should Listen” is an amusing comedy, in which a young man-about-town in Paris gets into all sorts of complications with an option on a South American nitrate concession, and too many girl friends. The efforts of a telephone operator, who is in love with him, to extricate him from his troubles only help to complicate matters, and there is much embarrassment for the players and much fun for the audience before the climax is reached. In the principal male role Cki»y Grant displays great ability as a farceur, aided by Frances Drake, who is very pleasing as the telephone operator. Of more than passing interest is the hotel doorman, in which Charles Ray, former star of country boy roles, stages a comeback. “We Who Are About to Die,” featuring Ann Dvorak and Preston Foster, tells Of the dramatic rescue of a young man, found guilty of a murder he did 'not commit, from the gallows.