ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 31 December 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT ATTRACTIONS MAJESTIC, WEDNESDAY: “SPORTING BLOOD,” WITH ROBERT YOUNG, MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN AND LEWIS STONE "Sporting Blood,” which opens tomorrow at the Majestic Theatre, is outwardly a thrilling horse race story, yet basically it is far more than merely the story of how an equine complex is overcome so that the horse can win the big race. It is the story of the overthrow of prejudice and the discovery by the hero that a woman’s love is more important than anything else in the world. With Robert Young. Maureen O’Sullivan. Lewis Stone. William Gargan and Lynne Carver heading a capable cast, the story breezes along with a nicely handled pace. Of course, the pivot around which the story revolves is a racehorse one. However, it is merely the adhesion for the tale although it does provide some of the best action of the year, with a spine-tingling race, the burning of a barn and a trick by which a “back running” horse becomes a world-beater. The story basically is of a foot-loose young man who returns to his home town and finds that he is hated because his father once ran off with the wife of Lewis Stone. He sets out to marry one of Stone's daughters for spite but really falls in love with Lynne Carver and is embittered when she jilts him. When he sees love in Maureen O'Sullivan’s eyes, he marries her purely for revenge but gets a shock into a realisation of real love. With his own lessons comes a loss of prejudice on the pai*t of Stone. Young and Miss O’Sullivan make an excellent screen team. Young and Gargan also make a fine team, with Gargan doing some excellent comedy. Stone, forsaking Judge Hardy for a while, is excellent as a hard-bitten Southerner. Lynne Carver, among the screen’s most beautiful girls, gets a real opportunity in this picture, and comes through admirably.

STATE: “IRENE” STARRING ANNA NEAGLE—RAY MILLAND IN SPARKLING MUSICAL. SEASON EXTENDED

Dou you remember the famous song “Alice Blue Gown”? When you hear Anna Neagle sing this haunting song in “Irene” you will then know why “Alice Blue Gown” swept the world when it was first sung in a Broadway musical play. Anna Neagle is the screen’s latest glamour girl. She is a completely transformed Anna Neagle from the young lady who so brilliantly played Queen Victoria and Nurse Edith Cavell. Then she had to be made to look middle-aged and saddened by life. Her own loveliness was hidden. But in “Irene” she is her glorious self. She is the spirit of youth on fire. She is romantic, beautifu 1 and glamorous. “Irene” is a gay musical, full of life and laughter. It is a heart-warming recreation, on a super scale. It is one of the most successful stage romances with music. “Irene” is also a breathless screen parade of beautiful clothes—a luxurious style and fashion show, unfolding one vision of loveliness after another against the background of world-famous melodies. You will rave about the gowns, especially that “Alice Blue Gown” which goes with the famous song of the same name. Anna Neagle wears this entrancing gown and sings the heart-stirring songs. It would be hard to define the charm, sparkle and appeal of the new Anna Neagle. She is so transformed that the only way to realise how entrancingly lovely she is as herself, is to see her in “Irene.” Then you will understand why she has been hailed as the screen’s newest and loveliest glamour girl.

REGENT, TO-NIGHT: “MEIN KAMPF —MY CRIMES” ALSO “CHASING TROUBLE.”

All arguments for the justice of the Allied cause have been compressed into a single film which poses no argument at all; it merely recites facts which are well-known and ye 1 almost unbelievable. “Mein Kampf—My Crimes,” showing at the Regent Theatre, is a breath taking document which leaves Blue Books, White Papers and all official acounts of ;he origin of this war at a standstill. In stark graphic scenes it shows the ruthless crimes that have strewn the upward path of the Nazi movement in the last decade. The old phrase, “Seeing is believing,” was never more applicable. All the gangsters ever known or imagined pale into insignificance beside the deadly work shown in this amazing picture as the deliberate actions c f a Government, now our avowed enemy

The associate fetaure is “Chasing Trouble.” The title of the Monogram movie is very appropriate for that is exactly what Frankie does throughout the picture. The young star seems to have a mania for getting into mischief and provides an exciting and amusing sixty minutes of entertainment. This time Frankie is a delivery boy for a florist, which in reality is the secret headquarters of a sabotage ring, j Darro’s hobby in the movie is j “graphology,” and this penchant for handwriting analysis gets him involved with the saboteurs and almost costs him his life. The screen play is peppered with laughs and Darro is capably assisted in the comedy end by Mantan Moreland, on of the screen’s funniest negro actors. The romantic by-play is handled by Marjorie Reynolds and Milburn Stone.

GOLDEN BAY THEATRE, TAKAKA

The Paramount picture. “Cafe Society.” which comes to the Golden Bay Theatre. Takaka, on Friday and Saturday, gives Madeleine Carroll, her first comedy role and stars her along

side Fred Mac Murray and Shirley Ross. Taking Manhattan’s most glittering social circles as its background, the film tells the high-stepping story of

a beautiful but bored society girl’s whirlwind romance with a he-man newspaper reporter, who shows her I how the rest of the world fights its battles. Wedding bells bring complications for the young couple, and many hilarious situations for the audience. When the clash between two social outlooks has died down the battling reporter and his society bride discover it was something deeper than momentary infatuation that brought them together.