ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 160, 8 June 1939, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. 3 “THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP.” Deanna Durbin has done it again. In 1 her fifth consecutive success, this 16-year-old singing star has bettered her former ) efforts. The record that seemed incredible lias been accomplished. When Deanna t made “Three Smart Girls” some two and , a-lialf yoai-6 ago, she came as a, surprise , star, a now entry in the Hollywood firmament. Her picture created a lot of discussion, the burden of which was that it ' was a fluke and that she could not repeat. Then she made “100 Men and a Girl,” and lo and behold, it was acclaimed greater than “Three Smart Girls.” And "Mad About Music,’l her third, was bailed with approval and the acclamation that she had surpassed her previous efforts. And then came “That Certain Age,” and fails declared it was better than the others, but shook their heads. “She can't keep up like this,” they said. But. now conics “Three Smart Girls Grow Up,” her fifth Universal picture. All there is to say is that it fis superior to the others. Wo wonder if her sixth picture will surpass her fifth, the seventh the sixth, and so on into tho dim and distant future. Deanna sings four songs in “Three Smart Girls Grow Up,” beautiful, well-chosen numbers, semi-classics. They are "The LastRose of Summer,” “La Capinora.” “Invitation to tlie Dance,” with Charles Henderson’s special vocal arrangement, and “Because.” METEOR THEATRE. “SON OF THE SHEIK.” Rudolph Valentino, “the greatest of the screen’s great lover*,” lias demonstrated his inimitable technique in a revival of his last picture, “Son of the Sheik,” which presents him in two of hus licet characterisations —a stern desert chieftain and his dashing, romantic son, now showing at the Meteor Theatre. Though this sheik classic was originally filmed in 1926, it remains a notable achievement and stacks up creditably against our modern productions. Aside from the Valentine aura, the photography and lighting arc excellent, and the action zips along with breath less speed and intense emotion—and though the film is rtilcnt, except for a line accompanying musical score by James C. Bradford, its pantomime is as eloquent as any talkie. Valentino’s performance proven beyond a doubt that if lie were making pictures today, lie would still be the screen's most outstanding star —leaving the Tayiors and Rowers and Gables a long way behind. Viewing his desert adventures after a lapse of years, one is particularly impressed by the dignity and sincerity he brings to the interpretation of the roman- 1 tic young Almied. the sheik’s son —a role : that might so easily, lend itself to exaggera- ' tion in the hands of a less poetic and engaging personality.