FIRST-RATE COMEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 116, 12 November 1938, Page 7

FIRST-RATE COMEDY

THE RUDDS COME TO TOWN

A successful season is assured the film "Dad and Dave Come to Town," which' is showing at the Majestic Theatre. It is a fever of fun artistically presented, a comedy as original as it is diverting in the boldness of its conceptions and the skill of author and producer. The Rudds have prospered since they were last seen, but they still do things backwards, and whether the fun comes in the roundabout way they work, or in the miles they travel to straighten things out again, they still represent the soul of Australian humour, and the sentiment which is a religion with the backblocks folk. The farm is now a very much improved 'place, and the house might be in the suburbs, instead of in Snake Gully, but a chain or two away in the scrub their best schemes get tangled up. Dave sets a fox trap by springing down a young gum tree, but it is dad who is caught and lifted high by the legs. Thrashing round in a paroxysm of frantic rage, his whiskers and the leaves on the ground are so mixed that approaching death- by apoplexy is not to be diagnosed with any certainty when Dave and the beautiful big white family dog, attracted by the muffled language, come along. Dad is talking like a pneumatic drill, and behaves like November 5 when he gets free of dog and noose. That feud about the bottom paddock is still on, and Reilly's boy eggs Dave on to speak for him about Dad's daughter Sally, whose love he has secured. The dog is named Sally, too, however, and Dad fiendishly leaves the situation primed for a discussion about the dog, at least on Dad's part, with ludicrous results for the young swain, and awful possibilities in the conversation. Then Dave has invented a patent gate, which is opened and closed in the middle by pads on either side, but when Dad drives through it he does the wrong thing and it «shuts just behind the breeching, with the result that the' horse tears free, and when Dad, with one idea fixed in his head, does open it, the cart falls backwards on him. His advice to an octogenarian passenger anxious to wed a comely lass has just been given. "You may be airminded, but you're not air-conditioned." Dave has "perfected" a car, a lissome thing with fine hip action, and a snoring roar. When the steering gear goes wrong and it takes away a haystack afire with him underneath, it looks like the finish; but it isn't. And so life on the farm goes on. Then a lawyer's letter brings turmoil. Property has been left to Dad in the city, and off go Dad, Mum, Dave, and the eldest daughter, who, having been a modiste in a country town, has polish and poise. After twenty years at Snake' Gully Dad is rather a mossback. They land among city sharks, who proceed to work -a well-tried swindle on the family, and the spectacle emerges of Dad undertaking the management of a costumier's business, which is in debt. Then everything begins to happen at once. It is hard to see the Rudds getting out of this one. but they do. , Romance, loyalty, and the creations, which are magnificent, do the trick. To steer these backblockers to victory in such settings and yet maintain logical continuity is a triumph for the playwright. The fashion parade is a surprise, magnificently produced, and of the latest styles. This also has the merit J of originality which stamps the whole film. Bert Bailey does his best work on the screen to date, and Dave excels himself. The cast is a strong one, stiffened by Shirley Ann Richards. Muriel Flood, and two Americans, Billy Rayes and Leila Steppe. Last night "Dad" himself (Mr. Bert Bailey) appeared in conjunction with the film. When he stepped on to the stage he received a warm welcome, and at the conclusion of his act received applause as has seldom been heard in Wellington before. Without any trimmings Mr. Bailey went right into the business on hand and in a flash had the audience helpless witn laughter at his every gesture and quip. The reminiscences he mentioned were both entertaining and amusing, and the stories connected with his Dad character and anent his beard were all told with a flair for down to earth humour. Mr. Bailey will appear twice daily throughout the week, concluding his Wellington season on Thursday next. ___________________-—-—.