A CLEVER COMEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 829, 1 August 1933, Page 3

A CLEVER COMEDY.

Claude Allister Starred in “The Medicine Man.”

“The Medicine Man,” which is offered at the Crystal Palace Theatre this week, is one of the season’s funniest comedies. From the very first scene it puts the audience in a gooc? mood, and the humour is sustained throughout the piece. It is hard to say who is the better actor, Claude A 1 lister or Frank Pettingell, but the two make an excellent screen “ team.” Allister is well known for his ” silly ass ” roles, and he is seen to his best advantage in “ The Medicine Man.” Perhaps the most humorous sequence is that in which Allister, as the Hon Freddie Wiltshire, poses as a doctor to shield Ronald Simpson (Dr Wesley Primus), one of his best friends. The situations i n - which Allister finds himself can be better imagined than Ascribed. He has a difficult role to portray, hut he carries it out in masterly fashion. Frank Pettingell’s portrayal of an inebriate is a masterpiece, and his behaviour when he finds himself in the arms of the law is a perfect scream. He has the audience in fits of laughter with his humorous sayings and smart answers. A feature of the programme is the appearance on the stage of Paul T. Cullen, who sings a selection of songs.