ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 206, 31 July 1937, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “CALL rr~A DAY.” What tho balmy breath of spring’s first day does to slumbering hearts is the theme of a delightful comedy-drama entitled “Call It a Day,” a Cosmopolitan production released by Warner Bros, and screening at the Mayfair Theatre tonight. Tho subject is appealing. As a stage play, “Call It a Day” ran for a couple of years in London, then for more than a year in New York. AVith tho broader sweep of the camera, it is much better as a picture than it was behind tho footlights. Big. good looking lan Hunter plays the part of a well-to-do Britisher. His wife is Frieda Inoscort. noted London and Broadway actress. They have been married 20 years and are pretty much in a rut. Then there’s a daughter of 18 or thereabouts—who’s the lovely Olivia do Haviland —and another of 15, who's Bonita Granville, the colobrated brat of “These Throe.” Peter Wiles, young British actor, is the son of the family. It’s a well-settled, unemotional household. But spring works its magic. The husband falls in love —or thinks ho does —with an actress client, Marcia Ralston. The wife has a proposal from Roland Young, when she meets through lior best friend, Alice Brady. Olivia ceives an infatuation for a painter, AValter AVoolf King, who’s doing her portrait. Her brother, AVUlos, discovers charms in tho girl next door, Anita Louise. Ali in one day they fall into love and out. Bedtime finds them all the same old family—a little more experienced, a lot wiser. This with the aid of smart, sophisticated dialogue, and entrancing sets. KOSY THEATRE, “OH, DOCTOR!” Can you imagino Edward Everett Holton ns Tarzan? Can you picture the tad comedian as a human fly? Can you visualise tho Horton you’ve known as tho reckless driver of a 100-mile-an-hour racing car? Impossible! Believe it or not, Edward Horton plays a combination of Tarzan, human fly and racing driver in Universal’s comedy, “Oh. Doctor! which is screening to-night at the Kosy Theatre, The picture is based on Harry Loon AVilson’s novel of the same name, Ilis Tarznnesquo talents appear when lie wrestles with a gorilla. He human-flies up and down tho sides of buildings, lie becomes a speed demon when he drives Ins car at belter-than-a-hundred clip. Horton does iris unusual stunts in the role of Ned I3il lop, leading character in Harry Leon Wilson’s’ great best seller of a few years back, which Universal has placed on the screen. lie is scon as a hypochondriac who falls in love. He does the daredevil stunts to impress the lady of his choice with tho fact that ho is a better man than his rival. The oxciting adventures of a race track sleuth, one of those hardy, hard-bitten track detectives whose job is to keep the sport of kings out of the hands of the underworld, lords, provides tho theme and action of Columbia’s “The Frame-Up, now showing at tho Kosy Theatre. The story, adapted to tho screen by that Hollywood ace of action drama, Harold Shumate, relates the events_ preceding tlie running of tiio Granville Swcepstakos. With a number of gangsters and bookies over-running the town on toll eve of tho big race, Paul Kelly, in the leading role of Mark MncArtlmr, chief of State Racing Commission detectives, decides to investigate the cause of the sudden influx of gangsters. He discovers first that most of tho underworld money is’being put on Red Roger a poor entry, riming a big odds. Further investigation disclosed that Rod Roger is a fake, a “substitute” that has been expertly camouflaged to get by the officials. By accident, Kelly discovers that the bogus Rod Roger is really Billy G a track re-cord-breaker reported to have died some six months before. Kelly bears his knowledge to Robert Emmett O’Connor, head of tho gambling clique, and threatens t-o have the liorso “scratched” on the day of tho race. O’Connor warns Kelly to bo more discreet, lest Betty Lindale, Kelly’s pretty secretary, played by Jacqueline AA’ells, should meet with an accident. Further, -O’Connor points out, an expensive car has been bought and registered ill Kelly’s name, and conscientious officials might consider it a bribe. Kelly is forced to call off the investigation, but, by playing one gangster against the other, lie accomplishes his ends just as effectively as if he had worked out in the open.