Tivoli

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6841, 23 April 1932, Page 3

Tivoli

‘■FATHER’S SON” SCREENING

It would have been hard to decide whether the seven-year-olds - or the soventy-year-olds applauded most heartily last night at tho Tivoli theatre when ‘‘Father's Son” opened its local engagement. The story in brief is that of a middle-aged father who fails to bo lenient with the pranks of his young son until almost too late to do so. The misunderstood lad finally runs away trom homo and then things begin to happen somewhere in the region of dad's heart, all of which mother aids in ways with mothers know. But it is tho razzle-dazzle of boy life that makes the play so real—the freckle-faced S an g> the circus, the swimmin' hole, the village bully, the tousled pup, and all the rest —and the east is just right. Leon Janney as father’s misbehaving son, is all that anyone could ask—that combination of imp and angel w-hat most regular guys arc. Lewis Stone, as tho harsh father, is convincing, but no more so than in later sequences, when he secs more clearly what being a boy is all about. Irene Rich is the sort of mother every kid wants, or has, and John Halliday is fine as the doctor who takes the kid's side. Robert Dandndge, the coloured boy, seen to advantage in “Hallelujah” and other pictures, plays the junkman's son, who is Loon's pai, and tho redoubtable Mickey Bennett docs the small town bully, who has a rough-and-tumblo fight with the hero. Others in tho cast are George Reed, Gertrude Howard, Bertha Alann and Grover Liggon. Never have the Booth Tarkington kiddies boon brought more perfectly to lifo than in “Father’s Son.” Seeing the picture is like a trip back to boyland—for those of us who have loft it behind—and a grand and glorious adventure for those of us who have not yet left that delectable country. Take the whole family to tno Tivoli theatre for one of tho jollicst nights of their lives.- A matinee is to be held to-morrow at 2.30 mm.