AMUSEMENTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19783, 26 April 1934, Page 13

AMUSEMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE. “THE GIRL IN 419.” “The Girl in 419,” which is to open at the Majestic to-day, is a drama which is as good in quality as it is unusual in plot; and moreover it is a picture which enhances the fine reputations which those three young Paramount players,. Gloria Stuart, James Dunn, and David Manners, are building up for themselves. Imagine an emergency hospital in a city where accidents draw no more than a casual glance, and a screaming ambulance; and picture a staff of doctors and nurses playing at love to find enchantment in -i scene of furious routine. And the doctor in charge of the hospital (James Dunn) makes no game of it for his fellow doctors when it comes to the love-making distraction. Then the siren screams once more, and the ambulance rushes to the hospital the girl who eventually goes to room 419. She has been beaten terribly, is at the point of death, and is beautiful beyond compare for the doctor, who falls really in love at last. He saves this woman’s life after a great struggle. She is a “mystery woman” about whose past the drama of the picture revolves in exciting intensity. She has been a member of a gang of criminals and has been nauseated by their crimes. The leader of the gang is determined to have her death and his determination brings a rogue and tragedy to the hospital, and finally great happiness also. REGENT THEATRE. “BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD.” “From Broadway to Hollywood,” which commences at the Regent to-day, shows that it is sentiment, much more than love, that makes the world go round. It sacrifices the usual dramatic crisis to trace a stage family’s history from a small-part livelihood to stardom in Hollywood. It is essentially human, and to that quality it owes its success. Any average person will see, when he casts back through 20 years or so, the outstanding incidents that have gone to make his life what it is. So it is with “From Broadway to Hollywood.” Each episode has its peak and its problem, and holds a definite individual interest] The film is so full of episodes that the interest never flags; they crowd upon each other, each with its drama. Frank Morgan, as the original Ted Hackett, grows old with his wife (Alice Brady ) as the story winds on, and his is a masterpiece of acting. He represents the old school of vaudeville artists, and cannot realise that changing times demand changing entertainment. He has used the same “gags” for 15 years and would continue to use them - , s long as the Hacketts could find a job.