ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 9 December 1940, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT ATTRACTIONS STATE: CARY GRANT, IRENE DUNNE, “MY FAVOURITE WIFE” AND “LONDON CAN TAKE IT” “My Favourite Wife,” brings back Irene Dunne and Cary Grant to the screen in a gay sophisticated romantic comedy. A large share of their success in this breezy film is due to the hilarious story which was especially designed for the stars’ talents by Bella and Samuel Spewack. Miss Dunne is cast as a wife presumably lost at sea whose husband, Cary Grant, has her declared legally dead after seven years’ absence and then marries Gail Patrick. The newlyweds no sooner depart on their honeymoon than the first wife returns, very much alive. She was rescued from an uncharted Pacific island on which she had been marooned all these years with Randolph Scott, portraying a handsome scientist. She overtakes the honeymooners at a Yosemite hotel, and presents herself to her startled husband. Unable to blurt out the truth to his bride, Grant tries to keep his first wife hidden —with some hilarious and disastrous complications. Now starts a mad pace which is heigthened until the uproarious climax. The kissless bride and her distraught husband flee home only to find Miss Dunne awaiting them and posing as an old friend of the family. And soon after the double-groom learns that his first wife and the virile explorer were alone on that island for seven years! Contributing lavishly to the laug's are Gail Patrick the bride who can’t comprehend her husband’s sudden aloofness and Randolph Scott, whose desire to marry Grant’s first wife after being stranded with her for seven years aggravates the burden the jealous husband is already carrying.

REGENT, DOUBLE FEATURE: “CON VICTED WOMAN” AND “SEVEN TEEN”

“Convicted Woman” is a poignant, i penetrating story of women in prison. It j is a brutal, shocking revelation of a female “Big House” ruled by a merciless high priestess of torture and is now screening at the Regent Theatre. Rochelle Hudson, Frieda Inescort, Lola Lane and June Lang head the large cast and Glenn Ford plays the only important male role. Other featured players include Iris Meredith, Lorna Gray, Linda Winters, and Beatrice Blinn. Nick Grinde directed from a screen play by Joseph Carole. The associate feature is the story of a young man who suffers all the trials and tribulations of a great love only to find that at seventeen he is not yet a man. This is Paramount’s adaptation of Booth Tarkington's famous classic, “Seventeen.’' Jackie Cooper plays the role of the love-stricken youth with a delightful touch of humour, without losing for a moment the audience’s sympathy m his time of trouble. The picture opens with Jackie rapidly approaching the status of manhood and very conscious of the position. The age is awkward enough, but the condition is aggravated when a flirtatious young miss from the j big city arrives in the small town. j There follows a period of utter con- ! fusion when the love-stricken lad j juggles his financial resources and loses i friends and family sympathy in a des- I perate effort to make a hit. However, j a reconstruction is effected and comes the realisation that seventeen is, after all, just a boy. With Jackie Cooper in the cast are Betty Field, as the fickle miss, Otto Kruger, as the lad’s father, and Ann Shoemaker as the understand ing mother.

MAJESTIC, TO-DAY, GEORGE FORMBY’S LATEST “GUNNER GEORGE.” NEWSREEL OF LONDON BOMBING SHOWING NAZI PLANES DESTROYED

A keen sense of humour is the heritage of every Briton, and despite the present dark days through which they are passing, British motion picture studios reflect the splendid spirit of the people by calling up George Formby to give the Empire a good hearty j laugh when it is needed most. None j recognise the invaluable part the screen is playing in maintaining the morale of the people more than the British Government, who have encouraged the j studios to carry on with the production | of bright entertainment, to keep | alive “that jolly old sense of humour.” i as it were. Thus, Associated Talking Pictures, of Ealing, England, present “Gunner George,” in which George Formby joins the Secret Service, just for fun, to reveal the sunny side of international affairs. “Gunner George,” which leads the new bill at the Majestic Theatre, may now be recognised as an invitation from the Motherland to “pack up your troubles” and get a laugh out of life again. Imagine the fun vyith George, banjo and all, in a foreign country in the midst of enemy spies. The joke of it all is that everybody “knows” he is a British agent, except George himself. When he eventually unearths information that necessitates his boarding a German submarine single-handed, the story reaches unprecedented heights of hilarity. Reviewers are unanimous that “Gunner George” is Formby’s best and funniest film. Lovely Phyllis Calvert is George’s inspiration in the land of espionage and Romney Brent and Garry Marsh are also prominently cast as J henchmen of Hitler. Another excellent firo'. half includes special pictures of the sensational bombing of London and the resultant fires. The picture also shows a German bombing plane diving to doon, Polish destroyer bagging a Lf-boat, and the Royal Navy taking over American destroyers.