GOOD DOUBLE BILL.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20484, 10 December 1934, Page 3

GOOD DOUBLE BILL.

Theatre Royal Presents Two Entertaining Films.

Two bright, entertaining features are presented at the Theatre Royal this week. They are “ The Freedom of the Seas ” and “ Twenty Million Sweethearts.” “ The Freedom of the Seas,” featuring Clifford Mollison as Smith, a clerk, and Wendy Barrie, as Phyllis, the daughter of Smith’s employer, chronicles the metamorphosis of a meek clerk in a “ Business as Usual ” office during the war into an efficient and anything but meek British naval officer whose “ way with a maid,” though somewhat drastic, is eventually successful. Mollison portrays the part of Smith effectively without too sudden a jump from the down-trodden servant to the aggressive officer in command. As Phyllis, who seems to be kept in a state of hazed surprise by the rapid march of events, Wendy Barrie is very good indeed. Zelma O’Neal, as Jennie, a shipwrecked chorus girl, makes a delightful foil to Phyllis. Of the men, other than Smith, the honours go to Cecil Ramage as Bergstrom, a German agent on the tramp steamer on board which the principal events of the story take place. His portrayal of the “ villain of the piece ” —a difficult part in that he has to arouse the antipathies of his audience —is well done. As Harcourt, the father of Phyllis and the employer, at first, of Smith, H. F. Maltby also puts in some good work. There is humour a-plenty running through the story and this keeps the audience bubbling with laughter. “ Twenty Million Sweethearts ” features Pat O'Brien. Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. It is a bright and amusing comedy with a number of catchy tunes and several good songs. The plot concerns the discovery and slow rise to stardom of a radio singer and pictures the numerous ups and downs that attend his emergence from the obscurity of a waiter-singer in an American d c licatessen store to the pinnacle of fame that belongs to the singer whose voice over the radio captivates the hearts of twenty million of the fair sex. As the singer, Clayton, Dick Powell is particularly good, bearing his honours with unassuming modesty and much charm. On the other hand, Pat O’Brien as Rush Blake, the loud-voiced, over-confident and talkative representative of the Broadcasting Company, is the typical American “ go-getter ” of fiction and, as such, is convincing. Ginger Rogers plays Peggy, also a radio artist, delightfully. The back-of-the-stage scenes in a radio studio are well done and include glimpses as well as the songs of the Three Mills Brothers and th? Three Radio Rogues, two groups well down to United States listeners-in. The film contains much of exciting drama, considerable comedy of a bright sort and not a little romance. These, plus the catchiest of tunes and songs, make up a show that is well worth seeing.