ENTERTAINMENTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4272, 26 April 1940, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

AT THE REGENT. AGAIN TO-NIGHT. “FAST AND LOOSE.” Patrons at the Regent Theatre on Wednesday evening seemed' to thoroughly enjoy the presentation of “ Fast and Loose,” starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell at the head of a very fine cast. “ Fast and Loose ” is presumably a sequel to the popular film, “ Fast Company,” and it is quite up to the high standard set by that very fine picture. Exceedingly bright comedy and refreshing dialogue permeate the whole screening, and it is sure to appeal. Good reports of “ Fast and Loose ” come from the cities, where at some theatres it was held over for an extended season. There are some unexpected incidents in the screening—in fact, surprises maintain the interest throughout. “ Fast and Loose ” is confidently recommended, as also is the very good array of featurettes with it. COMMENCING TO-MORROW. “MAN’S CASTLE.” When she was a stage star, plenty of people paid—-and were glad to pay —£2 and more to hear Glenda Farrell sing. Columbia Studios, while making “ Man’s Castle,” which costars 1938 Academy Award winner Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young at the Regent Theatre, paid that much and more to plenty of people just to have them listen to Miss Farrell sing ! More than 300 extras did nothing for two days while Miss Farrell sang three numbers before a microphone and the audience those extras represented. As a musical comedy star in “ Man’s Castle ” Miss Farrell was right at home in her role. She had been a musical comedy star on Broadway, but she prefers to recall ber success as an actress. She was “ Little Eva ” in a road-show company playing “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and she played in stock companies for sixteen years before tackling Broadway. Her work in the stage production of “ Life Begins ” won her a Hollywood offer. Her first film, “ Little Caesar,” sent her stock, as well as that of Edward G. Robinson, soaring starward. Neither player has yet climbed down from the cinema heights.

AT THE EMPIRE.

FINAL SCREENING TO-NIGHT. “ BLACK LIMELIGHT.” One of the most successful plays ever staged comes to the screen in “ Black Limelight,” now showing at the Empire Theatre. In it we see a new .variation of the theme of the wife and the “ other woman.” Here the wife, brilliantly played by Joan Marion, is suddenly informed that her husband is wanted for the murder of a girl whose body is found in a seaside bungalow. Although she has no idea of her husband’s infidelity and the evidence against him is almost watertight, she does not turn against him, as most people would imagine; instead, she fights to acquit him of the charge. This courageous belief in her man does not lessen her natural grief at his faithlessness, and her soliloquy over him, as he sleeps exhausted after six weeks’ flight from the police is one of the most moving speeches ever written. WEEK-END OFFERING. “KING OF THE UNDERWORLD.” In his first starring role since making his mark in Hollywood as a featured player in “ Angels Wlith Dirty Faces ” and “ The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse,” Humphrey Bogart, filmdo nv’s ace gangster, will star in “ King of the Underworld,” which comes on Saturday to the Empire Theatre. A .Warner Bros, picture and featuring Kay Francis as a surgeon, the cast includes James Stephenson, John Eldredge, Jessie Busley, Arthur Ay.esworth, John -Ridgely, Harland Tucker, and Charles Foy, and was directed by Lewis Seiler. The picture marks Humphrey Bogart’s rise to starring rank—a fact welcomed by his fans. Although “ King of the Underworld ” is a crime picture, it is not without its humorous twist. The capable Bogart, possessing a Napoleonic complex, really thinks he is the king of crime—iso much so that he kidnaps a young novelist, Stephenson, and commands him to write a biography glorifying the exploits and achievements of “ Red ” Gurney, which is Bogart’s character name. Gurney’s philosophy of life, his inordinate vanity, and his dictatorial treatment of his underlings are said to behighly amusing. But he fails to take into account the surgeon’s feminine ingenuity and her complete knowledge of drugs, which eventually prove disastrous to the gang chief.