ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 19 November 1940, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT ATTRACTIONS MAJESTIC: "THE AMAZING MR WIL LIAMS” STARRING MELVYN i DOUGLAS AND JOAN BLONDELL j ! In one of the maddest, merriest com--1 edies of this or any other season. I Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell re- ; turn to the Majestic theatre screen to prove themselves Hollywood’s finest, funniest, romantic teams. The astonishing funsters of “Ther* s Always a Woman” and "Good Girls Go to Paris” are currently starred in "The Amazing Mr Williams.” a laugh-provoking combination of sparkling dialogue, hilarious situations, unusual characterisj ations and swift-paced. suspenseful I action. Miss Blondell and Douglas are j teamed together for the third time in, recent months. Each has always been ! a top-fiight funster, but Columbia was the first to sense their potentialities as a pair. In making this third picture. Columbia has contributed a sparkling story, all comedy-cast and the richest pioduction values, then, for good meas- \ ure. added the director of the first two , I hits. Alexander Hall. The total, as : audiences everywhere have agreed, is I first-rate entertainment. The story, briefly, concerns "The Amazing Mr Williams” and his fiancee, Maxine I Carrol, two hearts which beat as one. Kenny Williams is a police lieutenant and a good one—in fact, too good, for j he is constantly sleuthing after malefactors when he should be devoting some time to Miss Carroll. He spends far more time in a careering police ' car than in her company. When his fk.iv rebels, Mr Williams really has a “tough case” on his hands, one far , harder to ‘crack” than the robberies and homicides he takes in daily stride. , Hall’s deft direction is said to exceed | his best work in “There’s Always A Woman” and “Good Girls Go To j Paris.” The story is brilliantly enacted by a supporting cast which includes Ruth Donnelly, Clarence Kolb, John i Wray. Edward Brophy, Luis Alberni. 1 Donald Macßride, Don Beddoe, Dick | Curtis and Walter Miller. STATE: DOUBLE COMEDY FEATURES. THE CRAZY GANG IN “FROZEN LIMITS” AND TONY MARTIN, GLORIA STUART AND SLIM SUMMERVILLE IN “WINNER TAKE ALL 1

The famous “Crazy Gang,” the irrepressible stars of "Alf’s Button” and "Okay for Sound”—the original radio Hoi! team are featured in “Frozen Limits.” This film is indescribably funny as the adventurous sextette. Flanagan and Allen, Naughton and Gold, and Nervo and Knox go to Alaska to find gold and tap a gold mine of laughter. The associate feature, “Winner Take All.” is a fine action film of the ring in which a refreshing plot serves as a springboard for a really new approach to the fight game, and the result is a grand piece of entertainment. Papa Gambini (Henry Armetta) of the Gambini delicatessen hires as a waiter a Montana cowboy (Tony Martin) who can’t pay his check. The cow-punching waiter enters the boxing benefit of the building fund. Winning the "Battle Royal” also wins him the admiration of a girl sports reporter (Gloria Stuart). He gets the decision in a series of professional bouts, all set-ups. and success goes to his head. The girl, by now head over heels in love, switches a framed fight so he gets knocked out and comes to his senses, i Then Papa Gambini and the girl reporter take over his management and L the picture carries on to a novel climax. Martin. Miss Stuart and Armetta have never been better and a top-notch cast, including Slim Summerville and Kane Richmond, does a uniformly grand job in this warmly human story. Director Otto Brower turns in a swell piece of megaphone wielding. This is a “must!”

REGENT, TO-NIGHT: “SECRETS OF AN ACTRESS” AND “DANGEROUS FINGERS” | Kay Francis stars in the Warner Bros, picture, “Secrets of an Actress.’ - Kay is an actress—a stage actress—and the period with which the story deals is that in which she scores her first Broadway success. There are two men in her life. George Brent, an architect, and lan Hunter his employer. Kay likes the producer and is grateful to him for backing her show and. as he loves her, it seems for a time as if they will be married. But Kay’s heart

t really belongs to Brent, and he guard- , edly reciprocates her affection, al- ’ though he is married. His marriage. , I however, is more legal than actual, and . I his thoroughly heartless, mercenary ‘ wife, played by Gloria Dickson, is ’ j about to divorce him when she learns . 1 of his love for Kay. The wife proceeds ; to try to exploit the situation for her ! pecuniary advantage. Then, unknown to Kay and Brent. Hunter gallantly , withdraws from the field to clear the way for the eventual marrieg of Kay to the man she loves, and then actually clears the way by tricking Gloria into a solution which makes everyone happy except himself. All this is told ’ ir. a moving but more often amusing ( , fashion. Helping nobly, mainly in the ’ humorous sequences, are such fine en- ! tertainers as Isabel Jeans, Penny Sin-

j gleton and Dennie Moore. The asso- . ciate attraction is the British Empire Films production. “Dangerous Fin- ' gers,” an absorbing and thrilling story j of a master musician who proves that jhe is cleverer still at cracking safes. James Stephenson. Betty Lynne and Leslie Perrins have the featured roles.