Hilarious Comedy Built About Radio Chase

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 4, 6 January 1937, Page 5

Hilarious Comedy Built About Radio Chase

ANN SOTHERN AND GENE RAYMOND CO-STARRED (State: Screening To-day.) Featuring the first radio chase ever staged in films RKO Radio Pictures brings to the screen the hilarious comedy with music, “Walking On Air,” starring Gene Raymond and Ann Sotheru. The high spot of both comedy and plot is the attempt of Raymond to prevent Miss Sothem from marrying another man through the medium of a frantic broadcast. As his sweetheart speeds toward Yuma, Arizona, from Beverly Hills, Raymond battles attendants in a broadcasting studio in an effort to stay her flight and deny that he is already married, as she had erroneously supposed. The story relates the experiences of two young college men who advertise for positions as secretary and bodyguard when they And themselves without work and destitute. Unbeknown to each other, they are hired by a Beverly Hills millionaire and his temperamental daughter respectively. The complications which develop and the final denouncement combine to provide a fastmoving, gripping entertainment. Three musical numbers for the show, “Cabin on the Hilltop,” “My Heart Wants to Dance,” and “Let's Make a Wish,” were written by Kalmar and Ruby and SSid Silvers. The film, however, is strictly a romantic comedy with radio episodes offering an opportunity for song presentations. Settings are smart and ultra modern and run the gamut from the western terminus of a trans-contincntal air line to the palatial home of a Beverly Hills plutocrat. Miss Sothem presents a fashion parade in her role, Bernard Newman, studio stylist, created ten stunning costumes for her including negliges, sports apparel, street ensembles, and formal evening gowns. Gene Raymond who impersonates a French count to earn money to further his career, wears a moustache for the first time on the screen. Henry Stephenson has the role of Miss Sothern'a father. Jessie Ralph plays the aunt. Cast as Raymond’s partner in woe i* Gordon Jones, noted football star. Raymond and Miss Sothem are excellently cast as the two young people whose romance road is full of chuck holes, while Henry Stephenson as the father and Jessie Ralph, as Miss Sothern's humorous aunt, give sparkling performances.

Walter Huston’s performance as Rhodes in “Rhodes of Africa” is to be preserved for posterity; the National Film Library has included this Gaumont-British picture among its recent additions,