Cosy Theatre, Woodville

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 153, 1 July 1939, Page 12

Cosy Theatre, Woodville

TO-DAY AND TO-NIGHT “IT’S IN THE AIR” George Formby joins tho R.A.F. and happiness is here again—in fact, “It’s in the Air.” Typically topical, the latest Formby film has as its background tho Air Force, where George finds himself “accidentally” in uniform, subjected to a bewildering discipline, and, as usual, making a hopeless mess of “ everything. ” George dons sky-blue with the mistaken idea of saving his sister’s airman sweetheart from exposure, aud almost succeeds iu wrecking the camp with his sublime clumsy ignorance, nearly giving the sergeant-major apoplexy, and becoming the butt for every practical joker in the service. One wildly funny scene shows him quartered in the sergeantmajor’s own rooms, thinking they are part of the visitors’ quarters, and there are many others in like vein. Tho fun roaches extravagant heights when “our hero” does duty as a dispatch rider, careering madly over the countryside on a motor-cycle combination with the local O.C. as his terrified passenger. Of course, from the minute he “joins up,” audiences will be waiting for the inevitable sequence when Formby takes to the air. And when it does arrive, everybody gets a generous money’s worth of riotous fun, because he finds himself alone in tho heavens aboard a ’plane about which ho knows nothing, performing weird figures in tho sky, looping the loop, swooping earthwards in hair-raising dives, loosing live bombs and a hail of machine-gun bullets —iu short, doing everything but break his neck. It’s all exhausting, exhilarating fun with George right at the top of his form. He also finds time aud place to sing three excellent saucy numbers and has a romance with the sergeantmajor’s daughter. The whole film goes with a real swing, and is one long laugh from beginning to end. Polly Ward, Garry Marsh, Julien Mitchell and Hal Gordon head the big supporting cast.