AMUSEMENTS

Grey River Argus, 16 January 1941, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS

Opera House Now Showing: “NAUGHTY BUT NICE” and “WOMEN IN THE WIND.” '“NAUGHTY BUT NICE.” Humour, melody and rhythm are skilfully blended in “Naughty But Nice, now showing at Opera House. A hilariously satirical disclosure of some of the skeletons in the closets of the denizens of Tin Pan Alley (a name given to New York’s song writing community), both the composers and the publishers. Since it is about the industry, art or profession of supplying most of the world with popular music, it has a good deal of music as well as comedy in it. In fact, even in the face of the suspicions it may engender about the efforts of some writers of popular j songs, two of the best of them, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer, have supplied it with five new tunes which they are willing to bet will resist analysis by tune detectives. Sharing almost equally in the acting and singing burden are Ann Sheridan, Dick j Powell and Gale Page. As to Ann, I she is not only given the honour of | introducing three of the new songs, j but she is given the best role of her I career to date, a part with plenty of opportunity to display the very indi- I victual type of charm which led to her recent designation as the “Oomph” girl. The comedy is mainly entrusted to as impressive a' cast of actors and fun-makers as has ever been assembled in Hollywood, numbering such sure-fire favourites as Helen Broderick, Zasu Pitts, Allen Jenkins, Maxie Rosenbloom, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Colonna and Luis Alberni. In addition, the National Jitterbug Champions, a crew of swing happy youngsters, do their stuff in a big dance scene. With side excursions into the matter of tune plagiarism and the even more diverting matter of the jitterbug craze, the screen play written by Richard Macaulay and Jerry Wald tells how, without intending to do so, a professor of classical music becomes the nation’s foremost composer of hot swing tunes.

“WOMEN IN THE WIND.” — The thrills, romances, sorrows and joys of those intrepid girls who have made aviation their career, are graphically related in the air race thriller, “Women in the Wind,” starring Kay Francis and William Gargan, now showing at the Opera House. Aside from its direct interest in lives of women fliers the new Warner picture takes advantage of the popular interest in the most sensational actual happenings in the recent annals of aviation by incorporating somewhat similar incidents in the screen story written by Lee Katz and Albert DeMond. Injected into a plot which was based on a novel by Francis Walton, these incidents give a fresh and contemporaneous flavour to the production. The story is concerned with the winning of a transcontinental air derby for women by Kay Francis, portraying a girl who had retired from flying in order to devote her life to the care of her crippled brother and then entered the derby only to get the first prize money of £3,000 and thus retain the services of a high-priced specialist to cure her brother’s paralysis. In achieving her goal, she is aided by Gargan in the role of a' famous aviator who has just broken the record for a round-the-world flight, and by Eddie Foy, J'r., who has displaced Gargan from the front pages by breaking the trans-Atlantic flight record. Others I in the large and expert cast include Victor Jory, Maxie Rosenbloom, Sheila Bromley, Eve Arden, Rosella Towne, Ila Rhodes, Frankie Burke. The production was directed by John Farrow.

Regent Finally To-night: “SOUTH OF SAMOA.” Commencing Friday: “EDISON, THE MAN,” starring Spencer Tracy. “Edison, the Man,” is the fourth picture in which Spencer Tracy has starred in a real-life role. His first was as Father Edward J. Flanagan in “Boys Town,” followed by the role of Henry M. Stanley in “Stanley and

Livingstone.” In none of them did the star use make-up until, in “Edison, the Man,” he put on white wig and facial make-up to play the in-' ventor at the age of eighty-two. “Edison, the Man,” picks up the great .inventor’s life at the age of twentytwo when, unknown and almost penniless, he arrives in New York City. The story follows his career and courtship through the arduous years in which he fights ridicule and failure until his invention of the phonograph and electric light. Rita Johnson heads the supporting cast as Tracy’s wife and other featured players, include Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart, Henry Travers and Felix Bressart. The picture was directed by Clarence Brown. Patrons intending to see this picture' are advised to make their reservations now.