BRIGHT COMEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20455, 7 November 1934, Page 3

BRIGHT COMEDY.

Will Hay in “ Those Were the Days.”

“ The House of Rothschild ” (George Arliss) will conclude its successful season at the Plaza Theatre on Friday night.

In Will Hay, famous English stage and radio artist, British International Pictures have found a comedian with a hitherto unsuspected flair for screen work. Hay makes his film debut in “Those Were the Days,” which will open at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday. This screen adaptation of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s “ The Magistrate,” a delightful comedy of the ’nineties, is notable not only for its comedy excellence, but for its wonderful recapture of the atmosphere of the Lon,don music hall. “ Lily of Laguna ” has come down to the present generation as an air, but the unique art of the vaudevillian who sang and danced it has not. come down. That is one reason why “ Those Were the Days ” should be welcomed by the young generation and the old generation alike. The young will recognise, and the old will remember, the consummate skill with which the singer induces his music hall audience of beer-drinking soldiers, sailors and civilians (plus sweethearts) to sing the chorus. Not only “ Lily of Laguna,” but “ Carve a Little Bit Off the Top.” the “ Valentine ” duo and “ My Old Man ” come singing their way back out of the dead past: and Jane Carr presents a vivid reincarnation of the music hall vamp ” of the ’nineties—big hat. robust figure, high kick and everything. The situations and the dialogue are as brilliant as any screen adaptation of 'The Magistrate” can hope to be. It is not an exaggeration to say that there is not a dull moment. The Magistrate (Will Hay), who sentences his own wife (Iris Hoey) and her ladv friend < Angela Baddelev) to seven days* gaol “ without the option,” ar-

rives in that predicament by an ingeniously logical process (mis)led by his precocious stepson (John Mills) and by his own susceptibility to the feminine and bacchanalian attractions of the Majestic music hall. The story is too well knit to require any making up by the audience. Box plans at the D.I.C.