PLAZA AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 614, 16 March 1929, Page 14

PLAZA AND TIVOLI

"RED HOT SPEED” Without a doubt, “Red Hot Speed,” starring Reginald Denny, at the Plaza and Tivoli Theatres this week, is the funniest thing this favourite comedian has turned out for many months. The idea of the picture is ingenious, and entirely new for the screen. It is such an obviously clever idea that it is a wonder it has not been done before. Vie story concerns the misadventures of a young prosecuting lawyer attached to the speeders’ court. He gets into trouble as a result of his public denunciation of a beautiful young speeder. The judge, possessed of a rare judicial sense of humour, paroles the young lady in his custody. There are lots of reasons why she does not want her father, a newspaper editor, to know that she was arrested, so she gives a false, name. .Well, anyway, that gives the idea around which the director has constructed a delightful romantic farce comedy. Reginald Denny is perfect in the part, and Alice Day, as the youthful speeder, adds greatly to the attractiveness and humour of the photo-play.

Denny is the typical farce comedian He is on his toes every minute before the camera. He never misses a trick from the tilt of an eyebrow to the animated cavortings of a hilarious situation. His acting is clean. too —the cleanest comedy on. the screen.

Charles Byer is very good, and Thomas Ricketts is splendid. Fritzi Ridgeway adds one of the largest portions to the humour in her role as the little slavey who pretends she is the. speeder to fool papa. The film is a riot from start to finish, and the story is logical.

Pola Negri, the famous emotional actress, is the star of the second picture, “The Woman From Moscow.” Miss Negri has reached highest dramatic heights in this picture. She gives a very human portrayal in this memorable performance.

From the snows of Russia she had trailed him, and her most sacred vows were pledges of his destruction. In the glided society of Paris she found him. He held her in his arms, yet ever the memory of her vow came between them. Could she destroy him and his love? That is the problem of this fine story. Norman Kerry appears opposite the star.