TOWN HALL PICTURES

Waikato Independent, Volume XXX, Issue 2311, 15 March 1930, Page 5

TOWN HALL PICTURES

“SUNNY SIDE UP.” YOUTH, ROMANCE AND MELODY. “Sunny Side Up’’ is the first original all-talking and singing musical comedy to reach the screen. In it Janet Gaynor and Chas. Farrell make their singing debut, the numbers for which were specially written by De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, the most successful writers of musical comedy for the stage and screen that the present decade can offer.

This delightful light comedy-drama has placed the young Fox Movietone stars on a new pinnacle, utterly different, but in the same high altitude as did their performance in “Seventh Heaven.” Miss Gaynor proves her versatility by playing a comedy role, broad in spots, and again on the border of pathos. She sings, she dances, she talks, and she does it all with that touch of genius that has .raised her from the ranks of the “extra” girls to the front rank in the entertainingworld.

Farrell, too, is called upon to enact an entirely different role than he ever essayed before, .and he does it with the dash and finish that stamps him as a superlative actor. His singing too, like his partner’s, is a revelation.

Some of the unusual features seen in this story arc: A Block Party, one of the most colourful sequences ever seen and heard on the screen. A Lawn Party, where society can be seen on parade and at play; while, a water, carnival and a Yorkville setting are also included in the. locales.

The story embraces in all seven striking song hits, some sung in .chorus, some solos and some duets. They *, are: “Sunny Side Up,” “A Talking Picture of You,” “I’m a Dreamer,” “Turn on the Heat,” “You Find the Time, I’ll Find the Place,” and “You’ve Got Mo Picking Petals off Daisies. ’ ’ There are also several other tuneful melodies.

On the whole the story is fast, full of action and replete -with excellent comedy. This picture takes longer to project than does the usual “talkie,” hence the programme-' of featurettes will be shortened in accordance.