REGENT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21483, 27 May 1935, Page 9

REGENT

"MUSIC IN THE A IK"' i Good entertainment is' provided by ! "Music in the Air," which is now having a season at the Regent Theatre, It is a well-produced and well-acted romantic drama of the type that should appeal to a great majority of theatregoers. There is a pleasant story, clean and attractive humour, romance, a good deal of fine singing by all the four principal characters, as well as by choruses, and spectacular staging. It is to the credit of the producer that the several elaborately presented scenes do not break the continuity of the story. Two of the leading players are well known. They are John Boles, who hitherto has appealed to many people more as a singer than as an actor, and Gloria Swanson, a talented actress who in this film shows decided aptitude as a singer. The other two leading players,June Lang and Douglass Montgomery, arc now to Christchurch audiences, but they are very suitably cast The story is simple enough, but i« charmingly told, and full of interest. The supporting programme includes an excellent film of swordfish and tuna fishing in the waters off Southern California.

"LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER" Competent critics state that The Lives of a Bengal Lancer," the Paramount production wnich will be screened at the Regent Theatre next Friday, offers rather an experience than an entertainment, and it is no gentle experience. Violence invigorates it from the beginning—the violence of Indian sunshine, the violence of sharp mountains, the violent tenderness 01. men to men, and their equally violent cruellies. There are films whose slow beauty and kindliness warm the heart, others that are remembered for their'wit and elegance. This is not one of these; so far there are no standards in the world of action-films by xvhich to measure it; and, in any case, it does not need comparison. It is excellently done and handled with a practised restraint. Inspired by Captain Yeats-Brown's popular autobiography "Bengal Lancer," but sufficiently adapted to the requirements of the talking screen to afford ideal ente;' linment, while retaining a certain amount of authenticity, the production provides a graphic picture of military life on the' turbulent north-west frontier of India. It is a tribute to the versatility of the Paramount studios that they have produced a convincing film dealing with a particular and traditional aspect of British military life. In situations which are essentially melodramatic, the fault of over-emphasis never occurs, and there is no hiatus in a swiftly-moving plot, which carries audiences on a wave of breathless suspense from the beginning to the end. There is a romance in the soldiering of the North-West frontier which has been captured by several skilled novelists and writers, a romance which is more colourful on the screen especially when handled with the consummate cleverness revealed in "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer." It captures ihe very spirit of the thing, and is rt worthy c' dication fo the handful of British soldiers who police a frontier which is alway simmering with unrest and intrigue. The cast has been fortunately chosen. Gary Cooper has probably the finest role of his career as a young Scottish-Canadian officer, witn a forbidding personality, but who at heart is almost a sentimentalist. Throughout the film he interprets his role with a nice sense of its requirements. Franchot Tone, as a brother officer, almost "steals'' the picture from him by an eminently satisfying performance. 11 is light-hearted humour in the face of dire peril provides a balancing light to the shade of Cooper's near-melancholy. Of special interest to New Zealanders is the appearance of Colin Tapley, of Dunedin, as an ingenious but ill-fated British border spy. Sir Guy Standing gives his usual accomplished performance as a British colonel with a pride in "the regimenj," and C. Aubrey Smith makes a convincing major. The only feminine interest is supplied by Kathleen Burke. The box plans arc now open at the D.I.C.

CRYSTAL PALACE "THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN" "The Private Life of Don .Juan," which is now being shown at the Crystal Palace, is one of the brightest satires which has yet been built around a theme which age has not withered. It is a film anyone could enjoy. It sparkles with clever situations and wit, it has colour and laughter in every foot, and the producer seems to have spared no expense and trouble in the construction ol scenes and background. Alexander Korcla, the man who made "The Private Life of Henry VIII." and "Catherine the Great," was responsible for this new success, and picturegoers will soon begin to take his name as the guide to great films if he makes many more like these. It might have been thought that Douglas Fairbanks was a back number when it came to balconyclimbing and tropical love, but ho has, as the Americans say, "staged a comeback" which will freshen his popularity and recall the palmier days of Robin Hood. Ho is still as athletic and spirited as ever, he still shouts with mirth and makes violent love 10 women beneath starry skies and the jealous eyes of their husbands He still carries his cloak with carefree abandon, and shaves his beard to a romantic point. In short, he is still the Douglas Fairbanks of the early film days, whom so many people admired and with whom so many more loved and laughed. But in this most entertaining and farcical film Douglas Fairbanks laughs at himself. He is Don Juan grown old, and Don Juan grown old, although he may possess all the desirabilities of the younger gentleman, finds that he does not command the same respect among women. Woman is fickle, and woman attaches more importance to the label than to the parcel—or so one is taught by "The Private Life of Don Juan." 'One of the most striking things about this most amusing picture is its very fine cast, includes such well-known people as Merle Oberon (of Anne Boleyn associations), Benita Hume, Binnie Barnes, Heather Thatcher, Claude Allist.ir, Owen Nares, and Laurence Grossmith. Every small part is splendidly carried out and the photography is really superb. The musical accompaniments are well chosen and played.