ST. JAMES THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 176, 20 April 1940, Page 16

ST. JAMES THEATRE

The excellent cast of Universal’s “Destry Rides Again.” which has been retained at the St. James Theatre, includes James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Winninger, Misclia Auer, Allen Jenkins, and Brian Donlevy. The main thread of the story told follows a fairly conventional line, but the deviations are so many and so interesting as to build up quite a new description of Western thriller.

The town of Bottle Neck is one of those wide open hamlets where the law is that of the man who shoots first. Its most profitable business is a gamhi'ng saloon, run by Kent (Donlevy), whose nuggety figure and hard-bitten features are enough in themselves to mark him as the villain. In this town sheriffs come and sheriffs go—usually they go feet foremost, after Kent's ' gang' has dealt with them. That is what happens when the sheriff in the opening scene tries to stop Kent from cheating a poor rancher out of his home and land. In fact, such a grim joke is made out of the law in these parts that the habitual drunkard, kindly. foolish old Dimsdnle (Winninger), is elected sheriff, amid the cheers and jeers of the roughnecks. Strangely enough, tlie old man is straightened up by the office imposed on him. and takes his sheriffing seriously. _ In the old days, Dimsdnle used to be friendly with the famous, gun-fighting law officer Destry, an almost legendary figure in the West, and in the hope of getting some iron-fisted assistance, he sends for Destry's son to take a position as deputy. Destry, junior (.Stewart), is nobody's idea of a gun-ligliter. A law student, quietly spoken, well educated. he does not believe in force —except the force of the law. For such shysters as Kent. • Destry's pacifist notions seem beautifully helpful, and comparatively easy to circumvent. But in the end the young man. still believing in his principles, is dj-iven to buckle on his fathers guns and shoot it out with the crooks, who have murdered his old friend.

A good deal of the humour is provided by Miseha Auer's fooling, with assistance from Winninger—and for that matter by the wire-whiskered gangster, Alien Jenkins,; but for most fihngoers the chief interest is Marlene Dietrich, who, casting langour to the winds, plays a touching and spirited part as Kent’s dancehall girl frend who falls tragically in love with the young deputy-sheriff.