"SHOW BOAT"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22545, 9 October 1936, Page 14

"SHOW BOAT"

SEASON AT STRAND THEATRE Full justice was done to a deservedly famous stage plav when tho screen version of "Show Boat," which will open a season at the Strand Theatre to-day, was made. "Show Boat" on tho stage never failed to arouse enthusiastic applause, and as a film it has been equally well received. In consequence it has been retained in Auckland after three weeks at the Civic Theatre, where excellent houses were received. "Show Boat" combines romance, comedy, pathos, singing and dancing with a success accorded few plays. The scenes on the house boat which travels up and down the Mississippi playing to the river folk are extremely well done, a sketch of an old-time melodrama being one of the best parts of tho film. Later, when tho heroine encounters tho discomforts of poverty only to achieve a fame she had never before realised, tragedy and comedy arc mingled, and the conclusion is one that will prove satisfactory to most audiences.

Acting of a high standard is to bo met with in "Show Boat." Captain Andv Hawks, a merry adventurer whose cheerfulness is not damped even by the sourness pf his wife's disposition, is excellently played by Walter Winnigor, and his wife is played by Helen Westley. Irene Dunne makes an appealing figure of Magnolia Hawks, the heroine, and Allan Jones as Pa venal supplies all the swagger and ofFhandedness necessary to the partPaul Robeson makes all too brief appearances as the negro Joe. Songs as well known as "01' Man River." "Only Make Relieve." "After the Rail" and "Gallivantin' Around" are included in the score and they are presented in approprite settings. There is also a quantity of dancing, principally of an old-time nature. The comedy element is ever present and brightens up the passage of the story.