GOLF COMEDY AT PLAZA.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1931, Page 3

GOLF COMEDY AT PLAZA.

With every other sport claiming attention on the screen, it was to be expected that before long some enterprising director would choose golf as the motive power for some new film. It was not expected, however, that he would make such u good job of it as has been achieved in “ Follow Thru’,” which began a season at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday. The production does not rely on the sport entirely for its success. It is a glorious mix-up of romance, comedy, golf, joyous youth catchy songs, good dancing and all the other components of the good musical comedy. Like other pictures of its action and all laughter, mere are tense moments, but the audience hardly has time to catch its breath before it is carried forward to one more an< * one nrore scintillating scene. The stars of the production are Charles (Buddy) Rogers and Nancy Garroll, but they really share the honours with another pair, Zelma O’Neal and Jack Haley, without whose wonderful comedy the picture would lose considerably. Among them, with the aid or the directors, they have made one of , the most delightful pictures of the type seen here. Although Rogers is cast as a golf professional and Nancy Carroll : as a champion, people who go to see Lhe picture to pick up some hints on the game are apt to be disappointed. They will learn the importance of keeping the eye on the ball, of keeping the mind j on the game, of “following through”— j but, most of all, they will learn that, ■ given the right set of circumstances, anything may happen on a golf course. All the circumstances are present in "Follow Thru’,” and things do happen! Lora Moore (Nancy Carroll) had been coached in golf since she was a baby, but she never took her game seriously until, after being beaten In the final of her club championship, she met Jerry Downs, a professional, and accepted his offer to coach her. For them, things develop nicely, until, with another oeautiful young lady (Thelma Todd) in the picture, the inevitable misunderstanding arises. However, the magic of golf heals the breach and everything ends as it should. Jack Haley and Zelma O’Neal had their troubles, too; Jack was terribly girl-shy, but in the end, after a long, stern chase by Zelma, he was “ cotched.”

As a spectacular production, “ Follow Thru' ” has had few rivals in the musical comedy field. The picture is photographed entirely in technicolour, and sojne of the scenes are almost extravagant in their pageantry. The story is laid in the grounds of a millionaire’s sports ground, the Mission Golf Club, and the directors thus had any amount of scope for the development of the film along original and gorgeous lines. Although there are five themje songs, all good numbers, in only one is a chorus employed, but in this scene, “ I Want To Be Bad,” the directors touch the highest point qf screen artistry. The picture is a credit to the producers. The supporting programme includes several interesting featurettes.