"LISTEN DARLING."

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 109, 11 May 1939, Page 5

"LISTEN DARLING."

NEW FILM FOR EMBASSY. The extreme and ultimately successful methods employed by a young boy and his "girl-friend" in their efforts to stop the widowed and rather impecunious mother of the girl from marrying a small-town banker to get his money, form the basis of the plot of the amusing romantic comedy, "Listen Darling," opening at the Embassy Theatre to-morrow. Jneddie Bartholomew, still at the height ol his popularity, is the boy, and Judy Garland, the famous little '"swing" singer. the girl. Mary Astor is ideally cast as the mother, Gene Lockhart is the banker. and that fine actor, Walter Pidgeon, the man whom the youngsters eventually choose as a suitable match for the widow. Alan Hale is also in the cast. Much of the action takes place in a trailer, in which the romantically-minded pair kidnap the widow when they think she is in danger of accepting the proposal of the banker, and dash away over the country in search of a better husband. Complications arise when the banker turns up just when the youngsters believe they have the whole affair settled, and pandemonium reigns until everything is cleared up at the end. Edwin L. Marin, director of "Everybody Sinir." was in charge of the making of '"Listen Darling. -, and all members of the cast give good performances, with Bartholomew and young Judy outstanding. Judy sines three songs—two new ones and the old favourite "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart"—in typical style, and the whole production is of a light and attractively wholesome -tobe.