REGENT THEATRE

Southland Times, Issue 23375, 6 December 1937, Page 16

REGENT THEATRE

“HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME” IRENE DUNNE STARRED Effectively combining the splendid voice of Irene Dunne with a stirring tale of America’s great out-doors, Paramount has brought to the screen the story of the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania and the struggle that marked the early days of the oil industry in “High, Wide and Handsome,” which is the current attraction at the Regent Theatre. Essentially the film is melodrama and the singing does not interfere with the story, which proceeds smoothly and rises to a thrilling climax. Randolph Scott has the male lead and portrays admirably the determined, ambitious farmer whose ideal is to supply oil as fuel for the lamps of the poorer people. In the opening scenes he meets Miss Dunne, the daughter of a showman and a romance speedily follows. Early in the film the two are married, but Scott grows neglectful of his wife when his oil well gushes ar. 1 sets in motion a boom which converts the country into a forest of derricks. The oil farmers soon run up against the railway magnates, who put prohibitive freight prices on the oil to the refineries in the eastern states. Bitter fighting ensues as the farmers start, led by Scott, to build a pipe-line across the State. In the middle of the trouble Miss Dunne runs away to join a travelling circus, but Scott pursues his plan, and after many setbacks at the hands of a gang organized by railway interests, accomplishes his purpose, the concluding scenes showing a terrific battle between the two factions, with the circus crowd coming to the rescue in the nick of time. The story is enacted, apart from the principals, by Akim Tamiroff, Charles Bickford, Raymond Walburn, Alan Hale, Dorothy Lamour and Elizabeth Patterson. Irene Dunne’s splendid voice is heard to advantage in several numbers written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Kammerstein, who also wrote the story, her songs including “High, Wide, and Handsome,” “Can I Forget You?”, “The House on the Hill” and “Alleghany Al.” A “Pop-Eye” cartoon and several newsreels complete a well-balanced programme. CIVIC THEATRE LAST SHOWING TONIGHT “UNDER TWO FLAGS” AND “TALK OF THE DEVIL” The big audience, at the Civic Theatre on Saturday night was thoroughly appreciative of the tremendous spectacular appeal of “Under Two Flags,” with its four great stars —Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen and Rosalind Russell—and the 42 featured players together with a cast of 10,000 extra players, including 8000 horsemen. The magnificent scenes when thousands of Arab horsemen charged the battalions of the Foreign Legion were memorable and the unforgettable scenes on the desert all went to make a picture of the highest possible order. On the same programme is a clever mystery film, “Talk of the Devil,” featuring Sally Eilers and Ricardo Cortez. Tomorrow evening the usual popular mid-week doublefeature programme will be presented. The main pictures are “Ladies Love Danger,” a mystery story in which Mona Barrie and Gilbert Roland, remembered for their fine work in “Mystery Woman,” have the leading roles, and a very merry comedy, “Welcome Home,” with James Dunn and Arline Judge in the leading parts. STATE THEATRE TWO SPLENDID FILMS The story of “North of the Rio Grande,” the latest of the popular

Hopalong Cassidy series, which concludes a season at the State Theatre today, is from the novel, “Cottonwood Gulch,” and concerns “Hoppy’s” efforts to rid a wildcat frontier town of its crooked officials and to wipe out a band of train robbers. William Boyd again plays Cassidy, while the supporting cast includes George Hayes, Russell Hayden, Bernadene Hayes and Stephen Morris. In addition is screened Paramount’s super murder mystery thriller, “Night of Mystery,” which stars Roscoe Karns, Grant Richards, Ruth Coleman and Colin Tapley. TWO FEATURES TOMORROW ACTION, THRILLS, ADVENTURE Adventure and romance, laid in a setting of the California goldfields in their most glamorous era, characterize “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” RKO Radio’s film version of the noted Bret Hart story, which comes to the State Theatre tomorrow. Dealing with the efforts of a gambler to fight the rising tide of popular opinion which seeks to wipe out the lawlessness of the “diggings,” the story is said to reach unusual dramatic heights and a stirring climax. His sacrifice provides the story’s climax. Preston Foster, as the gambler, and Jean Muir, as a school teacher, who falls in love with him, despite his profession, head the cast of the exciting picture. Christy Cabanne directed, and the supporting players include Van Heflin, Virginia Wiedler, and Margaret Irving. The second feature, “Behind the Headlines” is a high-speed drama of daring men and women of the newspapers who make and search for sensational news, regardless of consequences. A large cast is headed by Lee Tracy and Diana Gibson.