AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19360, 8 December 1932, Page 7

AMUSEMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. “MISS PINKERTON.” One murder followed by another, both committed under baffling circumstences, a house full of suspects whose actions are mysterious to the point of incriminating, terrifying shadows on the walls, and sudden assaults were some of the ingredients used to produce the succession of thrills which went to make up the mystery drama, “Miss Pinkerton,” which heads the new change at the Regent. Joan Blondell, as a beautiful blonde nurse, has scarcely relieved her feelings with regard to hospital routine before she is selected to attend an elderly woman who has collapsed after finding her young nephew dead as the result of bullet wounds. The nurse is required to act in co-operation with Inspector Patten, a young and attractive police officer, played by George Brent. One theory after another is advanced as to who committed the murder, and complications follow when his aunt is killed by a dose of arsenic after she has intimated that she holds the key to the mystery. The various points of the story are cleverly introduced, and the producer’s art has been allowed full sway in turning to the best account the opportunities provided by the plot. The finished acting which is necessary to complete the success of the picture is also supplied without a weak link, and the result is a gripping and dramatic production.

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“GIRL CRAZY.” Wheeler and Woolsey, the modern ragamuffins of the screen, are at it again. The best of their old tricks and a priceless crop of new ones are packed into their latest load of laughter, “Girl Crazy,” which opened yesterday at the Majestic Theatre, Rarely have the illustrious and inconsequental pair supplied more comedy to the lineal foot than in the present feature. The story is tin-pot, but the humour is of the gold standard. Perhaps it should be called gold-leaf, because in spite of its glitter it is quite superficial and utterly nonsensical, like all the best humour that ever was. Woolsey and his cigar and his horn-rimmed glasses and his faculty for telling his wife that she “couldn’t keep house for a six-day bicycle rider” scores with every gag His playmate Wheeler is his everlasting foil. The cap and bells is the true symbol of their brotherhood, although few of their brethren can measure up to them. The background of the film is a burlesque of the great West. The opening scene is a cemetery where sheriff’s graves and headstones stretch away to the horizon. Supporting, films