TWO MODERN FILMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21874, 9 August 1934, Page 14

TWO MODERN FILMS

THE NATIONAL THEATRE An entertaining programme comprising txyo full-length films, "Advice to Lovelorn" and '"Blood Money," will be shown for the first time at the National Theatre to-morrow. The programme is unique in that both productions are examples of the high standard set by the new company, Twentieth Century Picturefe, which established its reputation with "Broadway Through a Keyhole" and other popular films. All the trials and tribulations connected with editing the "agony" column of a large metropolitan daily newspaper fall on the shoulders of Lee Tracy, who takes the principal role of "Advice to Lovelorn." Just as "The Bowery," another Twentieth Century picture, revived a bygone period and made it the background of a humorous story, "Advice to Lovelorn" recalls the sentimental columns that are rapidly disappearing from the American newspapers. These were often ridiculed, but it was recognised by all that they served as public confessionals in which many sorrowful people sought light for their troubles. The picture opens with Lee Tracy as Toby Prentiss, a noted reporter sleeping soundly through an earthquake and missing the best story of the year. The same day the woman who had edited the "agony" column for years resigned to get married. The editor of the paper incensed at Prentiss' failure to secure the story assigns him to fill the vacancy, thus making him an object of ridicule for the rest of the staff. The story moves from one ludicrous situation to another with an hilarious climax. Sally Blane takes the leading feminine part, while the supporting cast includes Isabel Jewel, Paul Harvey and Judith Wood.

Two popular actresses Judith Anderson, who has had wide experience on the New York stage, and Frances Dee are cast as rivals for the love of George Bancroft, who takes the principal part of "Blood Money." Rowland Brown, who also directed the film, wrote the story with Harold Long specially for Bancroft and he gives *n excellent performance.