1949-01-08 — Page 2

as himself

SHOWING

TO-DAY

KING'S

RIVER LADY

Queen of an Empire of Sultry Romance Cand Brawling Adventury

...1000 Lusty

Miles of River

AT 2.30, 5.15,

7.20 & 9.30.P.M.

COLOR BY

Technicolor

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1949.

SEAT INETHE. STALLS

The 3

He played

all of them

QUEEN'S & ALHAMBRA

SHOWING TO-DAY ar “2:30, 5.15, 7.15 &.9.15 P.M...

RAPPED!

„EUNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL, Presedin

Yvonne DeCARLO Dan DURYEA Rod CAMERON⚫ Helena CARTER

RIVER LADY

LLOYD GOUGH FLORENCE BATES Set BEAUCHAMP WILLIAM BOWERS For my HOUSTON BRANCH and FRANK WATERS Prod by LEONARD COLDSTEIN Drected by GEORGE SHERMAN -

-ALSO LATEST 20TH CENTURY-FOX MOVIETONE NEWS—

TO-MORROW MORNING AT 11.30 A.M. ONLY

Rita HAYWORTH Henry FONDA Charles LAUGHTON

Charica BOYER Ginger ROGERS

•

· Edw. C. Robinson in

TALES OF MANHATTAN”

A 20TH CENTURY-FOX PICTURE — AT REDUCED PRICES

LEE THEATRE

ADVANCE BOOKING OFFICE

CHINA TRAVEL SERVICE I. QUEEN'S AD_C BOOKING FLOURS. 11.00 sm in 3:30 pm. Gly

COMMENCING TO-DAY AT 2.30. 5.15. 7.15 & 9.20 P.M.

"Slick man-and

womaneuvers: Catherine comes throug

blaze of stardus

WALTER WINCH

FRANK BORZAGE'S

PRODUCTION OF

EVE ALWAYS LOVED

IN TECHNICOLOR.

PHILIP DORNS WILLIAM CART

MME, MAKTA OLISPENSKAYA

YOU

FELIX BRISSARÝ SPRITZ FELD «LEN IN HOWARD

| ELIZABETH IMPATTERSONG, VANESSAFURCING

• "al Duwadscing a s

CATHERINE MÜLEOD;

A REPUBLIC PICTURE

MORNING SHOW SUNDAY AT 11,30 A.M. ONLY

•

Jimmy DURANTE Jane WYMAN

in

"' YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW"

AT REDUCED PRICES!

RIENTAL MAJESTIC

AIR CONDITIONED

·SHOWING. TO-DAY

2.30, 5.10, 7.20.& 9.30

2.30, 5.20, 7.20 & 9.40 Another Chinose Historical Picture in Lavish Scalof COST, OVER HALF-A-MILLION DOLLARS TO PRODUCE! THE ENTIRE PICTURE IN MANDARIN DIALOGUE!

清宮秘史

se Sorrows of the Forbidden City

ORIENTAL THEATRE Special Sunday Morning Show “WHITE CLIFFS OF THE DOVER" M-G-M Picture

Aubrey Smiths

by

LEONARD MOSLEY

HIEN I asked Sir Aubrey Smith, just before he left this country last year, whether he was going to retire, he said:-

"Good heavens, no. I shall go on the working until I die before cameras. My only regret is that it will have to happen that way-in stead of on a cricket pitch playing out ph lantage for the old aide.”

It was to like a quotation from Evelyn Waugh doing satire on the English in Hollywood. I thought for a moment the old man was jak- fort.

"Then

looked ut him. The leonine old face was drooping with regret, the eyes were insty and' sad, and I suddenly knew Slr Aubrey was deadly serious-sorry he would never die ns he wished, on a cricket feld, dressed in white flannels, with a bal in his hands.

There were really three Aubroy Smiths who died, at. 15, in Holly- wood last month, the Actor, the Cricketer, the Legend...

.

ACTOR

As THE ACTOR he played one role all his life, and the world never

got tired of looking at it.

His part was that stock one the Gentleman. He Typical English never even had to make up for it; tall wiry frame and that for his enormous face and bushy hend enor somehow seemed to shape itself in- to the world's idea of an English

pristocrat..

But stock part though it may have been Sir Aubrey brought some- thing special to it-a sincerity and an inherent belief in the character he was playing that got across to his audience, even when the lines were bad and the alluations trite.

Whether be was drawing "the thin red Hue" in wine across the tablecloth in "The Four Feathers" or leading men into battle against the barbarians in the "Bengal Lan cer" Şir Aubrey came to vivid and

British Producers Try A New Line

TWO

By L. S. WALLACE

moving life on the screen because the believed in his part and all it stood for.

As the Actor he made a fortune' and amassed a world following by. playing the

that same role role was himself.

CRICKETER

As THE CRICKETER Sir Aubrey had only one other ambition besicca that of dying at the wicket, and that was to live, to see his grandson play for his county.

His first present to the boy was miniature bat

bat. He was saving up

his own bat to give to him when he played for his school team,

Sir Aubrey got his cricket "blue" nt Cambridge when he was still a freshman, captained Sussex 1007-09, and played for the Gentlemen against the Players.

Ile organised n aricke! team as soon as he got to Hollywood, formed and disbanded 12 teams in seven years, and finally had Californin so enthusiastic about

that the game the City of Los Angeles gave him a fece pitch in its biggest park.

Sir Aubrey

would

sometimes break up script conterences sneak off the set to arrange fixtures for hils team. His simple English cottage bull among the ornate villag and swimming pools of Beverly Hits, had n wenthervane on top that was a "must" for all Kollywood sightseers. It was a cricket bat swinging on a pole.

LEGEND

and

But it in us THE LEGEND that Sir Aubrey will be remembered. With his death there disappears voted, that will make for cheaper, from the international scene a mani more flexible and more dramatic- who cpllomised the Englishman for ally effective pleture-making.

millions of Eritain's friends-a The two films mentioned above kindly, thoughifel, and fundamental- illustrate the first form of attack. ly decent man whose instincts were Neagle and Michael Wilding, is a "Maytime in Mayfair," with Anna lighthearted story about romance in spring in the heart of fashionable on advertisement to the world of the Belton we like the world to London.

never wrong.

3118

In public and private life he was

recent

WO films which have just gone into production in studios in Britain-"Maytime In Mayfair" and "Madness Of The Heart" give exceptional op portunities to their stars, Anna Neagle and Margaret Lockwood. It is significant that these films were planned during a year which It follows the tradition which is know. To the London Gazette when was full of events of far-reaching producer, Herbert Wilcox, has built he gained his knighthood in 1944 he importance in Britpin's Blm Indus- up over number of years, of was a British subject resident in try, including the passage of the placing a popular story in a famous California." To his fans and to his was a valuable asset new Films Act to assist the ex- London locality. Thus three previous admirers he

Industry,

called panding of the

and the pictures were

respectively in foreign lands.

In And long years abroad never potting up of Government committees "Plecadilly Incident," "I Lived to explore ways and means of fur- Grosvenor Square" and "Spring In changed his accent, his attitude or ther help.

Park Lane."

outlook. He was, in All have slarred Anna year

more-English-than-the- At the same time Britain's films Nengle, and they have English-Englishman. producers have Licen

Britain's subjecting helped her to become thiemselves to a strict self analysis most popular feminine star, rivalled and have done some long-term plan- only by Margaret Lockwood. ning. The two Blms and others men-

Wilcox, gauging the mood of the tloned below will be apong the re-

times, chose lighter subject and sults of this activity,

***Spring treatment for

Park In trea Producers want to turn out more Lane'; and he carries on this policy The ms that will not only please Bri-

with

Mayfair" "Maytime In tish audiences but also the rest of former film was as great a success the world.

Britain; and To do this they are abroad as

It was in pursuing two lines of attack.

there will be an almost worldwide First: to make films with basically audience for the current production, simple themes of universal appeal

In these lms, too, Wilcox has with popular stars in them--stars emphasised his great ability as star-

in the .already firmly established

by developing Micknel builder affection of British Alm-goers and

Wilding, four years ago almost un- who have...world reputations.

known, -us-Anna-Noagle's romantic. Secondly: to develop in practice a

in fact the national reputation. handling of this team by Wilcox is an object lesson to producers any where in the world.

·It

On the wall of his Hollywood study hung a maxim: "Play the game of life with a straight bat and never blame the umpire." summed up the philosophy of an Ingenuous and uncomplented man-- some made fun of but a good man right down to his English roots.

Charlotte Startles The

new production technique, to which partner. Wilding now has an inter- Show World

much research has already been de

U.S. buys 'one of the

best films

Bobby Henrey, and—

--Michëlo MargáAV4010

"Mayline In Mayfair, will answer the need for a little galety in a world of gravity and stress, will provide romance, lovers' quar- rels, music, dancing and a "happy ever after" ending a fairy tale in smart modern dress, in fact.

By contrast "Madness of

The

Heart" is melodramatic, emotional and full of dramatic ten- sion. It also has a basically simple story and it provides a fine star part for Margaret Lockwood.

Miles Lockwood plays the part of blind girl who marries into a French family. A girl who has loved bitteri, Margaret's hasband 1 jedous of her and tries to kill her, but she is able to defeat her purpose.-

There is strong popular dramatle appeal in this story, certain psy- chological interest and any amount of suspense. For Miss Lockwood it is a great opportunity, for it pre- sents her with a wholly sympathelle character and a big opportunity for skliful acting. In its essential simplicity and its careful selection of the star personality, this picture should cortainly have an inter- national quality.

is.

to two

In passing, another current pr duction of considerable star Interest Trottle True", the story of n musical comedy star of the end of the last century. This picture given rate opportunity a first talented young women.

One is Jean Kent, who plays the chorus girl of the title. Jean is already distinguished artist and may well become an international one after

TWENTY-two-year old CHAR- LOTTE MITCHELL, (above) mail part actress in Orangos and Lemons, a rovue now having a suc- coseful run in London's West End, is challenging revue writers.

Three of the wittiest numbers in the show are her own work; two of them give the stars, Diana Churchill and Max Adelan, their highspets of the show,

The Adrian monologue has stirred up the West End show world;, it is a pungent comment on the green- room scandal zahool of revue now in vogue in Britain.

Miss Mitchell typed it out in the train on the way from Cambridge to London ons Sunday before the show opened.

“NO ORCHIDS”· FOR HONGKÒNG

"NO Orchids For Miss Blandish,"

"No British flim which hit

Lendon's West End with a bang and then ran into ban trouble, has been

CONFESSION!

FUGITIVE/

SWEET DECEN

M-G-M HIGH-TENSION ROMANCE

ROBERT TAYLOR Audrey TOTTER • Herbert MARSHALL

WALL

(BETWEEN TWO LOVERS)

ADDED at the QUEEN'S———Latest NEWS OF THE DAY! FIRST PICTURES OF S.S. "KIANCYA" DISASTER

IN SHANGHAI—HIGHLIGHTS OF 1948!

QUEEN'S

Larry PARKS Evelyn KEYES

SUNDAY MORNING SHOW

AT 11.30 A.M. ONLY

in "THE JOLSON STORY” Color by TECHNICOLOR-Entire New Print!

CENTRAL

O

270, QUEEN'S RD. CENTRAL, PHONE 25720,7

a 5 SHOWS DAILY DAILY AT 12.30, 2.30, 5.15, 7.15 & 9.15 P.M.

• FINAL EPISODE *

PHANTOM EMPIRE

fiaturing

GENE

AUTRY

SMASHING... SPELL-BINDINO

EPISODESIA Nation 20,000 fast under- ground.and 500

pours avand of the times!..

FRANKIE

DAR

BITSY KING

SHOWING

TO-DAY

Cathay

At 2.30. 5.20,

7:30 & 9.30 p.m.

THE WORLD'S CHAMPION CHEERER-UPPER!

LIFE WITH FATHER DUNNE POWELL

MILE TECHNICOLOR

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

EDMUND GWENN - ZÁSU PITTS * MICHAEL CURTIZ

by

Coming to the KING'S

this Alm has been widely shown passed, without cuts, by the Hong THE LIVELIESt chosts of the century!

The other girl is Lann Morris, who kong Board of Censors.

NO

nim

ROBBY Henfey, young English search by the Rank organisation's venture

started up production In England

B

It will be shown for the first and Was

unknown a year ogo

time at the King's next week. How gets her big chance.

Orchida condemned by The other line of attack now being developed by British films is the many British filmgoers as unneces result of prolonged technical re-sarily sordid; was the first

of George Minter, who boy, and Michele Morgan, the film scientists.

practical demonstration just over a year ago with a one- falented French actress (pictured

Tho, Aral

|man company and a 100,000 pro- above) are two of the stars in "The of the results of this activity is a film

alled "Warning Te Wantons," acromme-of the age of 37. Fallen Idol," a British film which called

Despite the controversy the film recently won the European Academy lively comedy which has just been

completed by a subsidiary company aroused it was banned at only five So Mr The film was subsequently bought called Aquila, set up to make films places throughout Britain.

Minter is now going on to make developed technicus by the David 0: Selznick organisa- with recently

nine more pictures, at a total cost don, and will soon be released under improvements.

Aquila is about to begin Its of £700,000. a new title: "The Fyn Witness"

"No gangsters this ilma," he says: Selznick's comment. when nosecond ventura, a more dramatic

the "No brutality. No andinn igntly bought it: "It is one of the finest picture called "Floodude" films made anywhere in the world details of which are being kept or wrongly, the critics have taught

something of a secret.

Award.

In recent years."

'us a lesson.'

ROBERT MORLEY- The GHOSTS of BERKELEY SQUARE

A-BRITISH NATIONAL FICTURE ^" with YVONNE ARNAUD CLAUDE HULBERT & RONALD FRANKAU

Produced by Lault M. ¿sckso Directed by Verned Sewe

IX AYLMER