CIVIC THEATRE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20076, 4 November 1930, Page 16

CIVIC THEATRE.

"HIT THE DECK." .AH thoao who enjoyed the Bubtle oiai<3gue ana the lilting' choruses of the stage version of "Hit the Deck" will enjoy the film presentation shoeing at the Civic Iheatre thi3 week just as much. Nothing that mattered in the musical comedy has been left out of th'i picture which has the advantage of being produced, in a itioro natural setting, than is possible- with the play. "Perhaps nothing m "Hit the Beck" is better remembered or more . appreciated than tho ''Hallelujah Cbcrus." In the fi'ra this is given by a. negro chorus of one hundred voices with the artistry which comes from technicolour to enhance the eflect. Then follows a finished performance of "Snake's Hips," which i 3 most satisfying. The theme of the piece is familiar to most theatre-goers. Everyone knows Looloo, the winsome proprietress of the coffee house, which is the rendezvous of most of the sailor-boyß of the United States Navy. Loo Loo is a friend to'them all, but nothing more, till ehe meets one of the four hundred Smiths which have joined the navy. Then she loses he; heart. This particular Smith, perhaps more handsome than the rest of the other 590, Btill has the careless fancy-free heart of them all with their gospel of "a girl in cvorv port." Kor him Looloo is only one of many after. his ship sails. The pirl does not forget, and the efforts she makes to win him make up an entrancing btory, much of which i* told in chorus. More than half th« picture is .in colour, which serves to emphasise the • elaborate setting and the costliness of the production, but there is nothing flamboyant about it. Some or the tL.osfc picturesque scenes are at tho ball on the flagship, arranged especially Ei-> that Looloo may find her lost sailor lover. She succeeds, but nnw, by selling a. family heirloom, Bhe has become rich and Smith wil 1 have nothing to do with "flash" women. It then becomes necessary for the girl to go back to her coffee house and simplicity before the logical conclusion is arrived at. Jack Oakie and Polly Walker are the players who go hand in hand through the film version. Both are particularly well cast, "but Miss "Walker is the soul of the piece. The. beautiful flocking is a feature which will rank© an especial appeal. There is a good supporting programme.