REGENT THEATRE FILM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 14

REGENT THEATRE FILM

"WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD"

English comedy at its host is presented in "When Knights Were Bold," which will open a season at the Hegent Theatre to-da.v. As a singer, dancer and humorist, Jack Buchanan has few rivals. He brings to the screen an exuberant vitality and an excess of good spirits which have never yet failed to attract an audience. Buchanan appears as a light-hearted army officer, Guy de Vere, who returns from active service in India to an old English castle which ho has inherited. Unfortunately he inherits with it an unbelievably straight-laced family whose devotion to the past traditions of the house jars on Guy's modern directness. His frank address to servants and inferiors horrifies his family, including the fair Lady Ho won a, who wavers between respect for the past and love for the present. The lady is now his ally, now his enemy, as the baronet passes from one scrape to another, but she is never wholly hostile or wholly friendly. It is the hand of Fate that lends him assistance. The lord of the house is reclining, slightly befuddled by the contents of his cellar, in his dining hall when a heavy suit of armour brings complete oblivion to his senses. The remaining scenc9 take place at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the age of chivalry, when knights were bold, and a startling transformation takes place in our hero. He becomes an intensely dashing figure and meets with an amusing series of escapades which finish in a pleasing climax. Fay Wray takes the role of Lady Rowena and with Buchanan she provides some very acceptable fooling. The customs, costumes and eccentricities of a bygone age are turned to good effect and raise a ripple of laughter throughout the film. Buchanan's merry roguery is one of the brightest features of the film and he shows his versatility in two songs and tap dancing.