ENTERTAINMENTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 58, Issue 4194, 9 June 1939, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

AT THE REGENT. AGAIN TO-NIGHT. “THE ROAD TO RENO.” Gay scenes of Comedy, romance, and excitement in a dude ranch over, run by grass widows highlight Universal’s hilariously intriguing picture, “The Road to Reno,” which opened last Wednesday night at the Regent Theatre. Starring Randolph Scott and Hope Hampton, and featuring Helen Broderick, Glenda Farrell, Alan Marshall, and David Oliver, the picture uses the gay, tempestuous atmosphere of the United States’ divorce capital as the background for some of the funniest and most unusual go-ings-on ever recorded in a motion picture. They must, be seen to be really appreciated. The film tells how Linda Halliday (Hope Hampton), a temperamental grand opera star, decides to go to Reno and divorce her young rancher husband, Steve Fortness (Randolph Scott), because he insists that she shall give up her career and live on the ranch near Reno. Linda believes she is in love with an attractive and wealthy young stockbroker, Walter Crawford (Alan Marshall), who follows her to Reno in the hope that she will marry him when the divorce is granted. When Linda reaches Reno she meets her obstinate young husband Steve, who indignantly refuses to give her a divorce. Then Linda and her divorce-addict friend, Sylvia Shane (Glenda Farrell) descend on Steve’s ranch. COMMENCING SATURDAY. “ HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME.” ' Telling a rousing story of roniance at a vacation camp, R.K.O. Radio’s “ Having a Wonderful Time ” comes with Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr., in the co-starring roles, and with a notable group of players in support. The film, adapted from Arthur Kober’s Braadway stage success of the same name, has its principal setting at a mountain resort. Scores of working people from New York, pleasure-seeking youngsters, young and old married couples, elderly gossips, young college men working their way at the camp, are gathered in a variegated group, and against this informal background the main theme of the film is presented. It is a suspenseful romance between Miss Rogers, as a hard-working little stenographer, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr., as an ambitious but penniless law student who has taken a job. as a waiter at the camp. Encountering the common problem of thousands of young people in such a situation—the

lack of money on which to marry—they try to solve it in a manner that makes for a strong dramatic element together with the sparkling comedy of the story. “ Having a Wonderful Time ” brings its two stars fresh from recent triumphs. Miss Rogers’ work in “ Stage Door” and “ Vivacious Lady,” and Fairbanks’ in “The Prisoner of Zenda” and “Joy of Living," have opened them swift increases in popularity, and they are said to have even finer opportunities in the new offering. AT THE EMPIRE. FINAL SCREENING TO-NIGHT. “SECRETS OF A NURSE.” Linking the secret lives of a criminal attorney, a beautiful nurse, and a young boxer victimised by a gangster ring, Universal’s “Secrets of a Nurse” provides the unusual dramatic film fare currently showing at the Empire Theatre. Edmund Lowe, Helen Mack, and Dick Foran portray the leads in the film version of this Collier’s Weekly story by Quentin Reynolds. The unusual triangular affair is highlighted when Lowe, as the lawyer, agrees to defend his young romantic rival in a courtroom drama that finds Foran on trial in an, open-and-shut murder case. Lowe accepts the hopeless task, knowing that it will mean sacrifice of his own romantic aims and the end of his reputation as an invincible defence attorney. Paul Hurst, Samuel S. Hinds, Leon Ames, David Oliver, Frances Robinson, Dorothy Arnold, Stanley Hughes, and Clarence Muse are in the cast. Arthur Lubin directed from the screen play by Tom Lennon, with Burt Kelly as associate producer. A splendid line of Romney Marsh two tooth mated ewes was recently shipped to a Tasmanian client by the stud stock department of Wright, Stephenson and Co. Ltd., a nice, even well woolled consignment, with splendid bone and excellent heads—they are the fourth annual consignment to leave the noted South Island stud of Mr Raymond Oakley for Australia. The three previous consignments have all done particularly well, having gone to various parts of South Australia, each forming a nucleus of a new stud. Progeny from two of these studs were recently exported from South Australia to South Africa—the breeder securing 8 guineas for his ram hoggets from the ewes bred by Mr Oakley. The Courier is read in almost every home in Te Awamutu district, and is the best advertising medium.