The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-08-17
MYSTERY THRILLS
 IN STATE CINEMA
The Dragon Murder Case Opens Four Day Run
 Tomorrow

II NtNCE Hd1 llldb AAtaSNCA VI tery dramas, S. $. Van Dine, woven a plot with more thrilling and hair raising incidents, set in, a back | ground of eerie detail that makes | cold chills creep up and down the spine, than in "rhe Dragon Mur- | der Case" the First National pie ture which opens tomorrow at the State theater.
 Warren William, portraying the now internationally famous fiction detective, Philo Vance, has cre- ated a character with which he undoubtedly will be forever linked, for William is Vance, and Vance is William.
 The story is weird enough to | please the most avid collector of screen thrills. \ A man dives into a swimming pol from which there is no outlet except through a fine grating, and disappears. Even draining the pool fails to disclose the body. But there are found strange tracks like those that might have been made by the talons of prehistoric mon ster.
 Surrounding the pool is legend that 1t is the lair of a dragon which seizes and destroyes unwary swimmers,
 Into this situation come the po- lice and Philo Vance, in time to prevent a couple of other murders and eventually to solve the first.
 Two other great actors have pre- viously portrayed Philo Vance. l yNfIl;o Dayrnn v1d Basil Rathbone. But to this re- closer embodiment of the charac- ter than either of the others.
 Eugene Palette again plays the part of Sergt Heath with his char acteristic droll humor. Robert Me- Wade also is once more District Attorney Markham and Dr Dore- mus returns in the person of Eti- enne Girardot who created the role.
 Margaret Lindsay is the leading lady and 8 most charming and capable murder suspect she proves to be. Lyle Talbot has the role of a half breed college type Indian with whom Margaret is in love. | Robert Barrat, Helen Lowell, Dorothy Tree, George E. Stone, Ar thur Aylesworth and William Dav- idson are all noted film players, who always may be counted on for finished and masterly perform i ances.
 The companion feature will be | Romance in the Rain' with a cast of favorites including Roger Pryor, Heather Angel, Victor Moore (who was co-starred in the stage produc- tion, "Of Thee I Sing" and proves one of the funniest comedians the screen has produced in many months) and Ruth Donnelly. Per- l formances tonight conclude the en- gagement of "One More River" starring Diana Wynyard and "The Line-Up" with William Gargan, | Marion Nixon and Paul Hurst. Every Night an Opener
 Living in Hollywood is like going through one long perpetual open- ing night, according to Pauline Lord, distinguished New York stage star, who recently completed her first screen venture, "Mrs Wiggsf of the Cabbage Patch"
 "The making of a motion picture never reaches point where IL progresses smoothly and without effort as does stage play" de- clares Miss Lord. Instead, there always is confusion and uproar and the frantic bustling of theat- rical opening night.
 "I don't know how they ever get a finished picture out of this chaos, but they do. Personally, I was more nervous through the en- tire picture than I ever was on an opening night in a theater."
 Imported Beach
 Mary Astor has had five truck | loads of ocean sand hauled to her home on Toluca Lake to make a miniature beach for her small daughter. Now that it's finished, Mary likes it so we'll that she also , spends all her. spare time there. |
 Lyle Switches Again
 And Lyle Talbot. who. changes girls wits sufficient rapidity to keep any two columnists busy l checking on him, has switched his affections again. Genevieve Tobin is the girl seen most with him ! these days. ..'-