ENTERTAINMENTS

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3506, 16 August 1934, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

AT THE REGENT.

TO-NIGHT AND ON FRIDAY

“HALF A SINNER.”

“Half a S'nner,” one of the most hilarious and successful comedydramas of the year, is being brought to the screen (at the Regent Theatre to-night and on Friday, with Berton Churchill, Broadway stage and screen star, Joel McCrea and Sallie Blane in the principal roles. Thoroughly wholesome, laughable, dramatic, it' is one of the most delightful films to to shown in some t4me and is devoted to the entertainment needs of the entire family. /It is based on the play, “Alias the Deacon,” by John B. Hymer and Leroy Clemens in which Churchill was starred. The story, thrilling in spots, rollicking in others and e.ean throughout, records the activates of a sanctimonious rascal who poses as a deacon and who is a cjigd-sharp, as well as two young lovers who have known him before but who know it would be fatal to their happiness to have such a fact become public. The plot turns and twists at every angte, the suspense of each situation being maintained until its consummat on. There is an excitingwrestling match, a robbery in which Joel is suspected and thrown in jail and apparently deserted by his girl, a widow who places too much faith in a pair of Jacks, and through it all saunters the saintly appearing churchiriam with h's kindly, double meaning, philosophy. N In the end, though a crook, the deacon solves everyone’s troubles in the most surprising fashion. Besides the two romantic lovers, McCrea and Miss Blane, who contribute much to the enjoyment of the picture, virtually an all-star cast fills the other roies.

SATURDAY, MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

“FLYING DOWN TO RIO.”

Beautiful motion-pioture chorines have insured for their faces, their figures and their limbs and hand's, but those Who appear in R.K.0.Radio’s musical extravaganza, “Flying Down to Rio,” set a new precedent b|y having to be insured for their lives!! The product'on, which for the first time in talking picture history unites air thrills anl musical comedy drama, is climaxed by the complete staging of a girl show in mid-air, the performers enacting their roles and their dances on the wings of ’planes sda.ring aloft over Rio de Janerio. Other beauties do pull-offs from the ships and perform on thin air while wafljed to earth via parachute. The story, dealing with the adventures of

an American jazz band leader in Brazil and his romance with a beautiful native girl is enacted by Gene Raymond as “the boy,” Dolores Del R : o, “the girl,” Raul Roulien, the South Alni)erican rival, along with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as the comedy relief. Thornton Freeland directed, Vincent Youmans wrote the music, with lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn. “Flying Down to Rio” will be screened in Te Awamutu for three nights.

AT THE EMPIRE.

“RED WAGON.”

Undoubtedly one of the most out standing productinos in the annals of motion pictures, the British Inter national film of Lady Eleanor Smith’s famous “ Red Wagon,” is being presented this week at the Empire Theatre.

H.R.H. the Prince of Wales attended the first public showing of this film, which was made at Elstree under the direction of Paul Steen, “Ace” Continental and American director, when it was given a Royal premiere at the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, London, in aid of the Prince of Wales’ Builder Fund of Toe H., raising over £12,000. Against panoramic backgrounds of Britain’s beauty spots, “Red Waggon,” a virile story of the loves' and hates of half primitive people of the open air, unfolds. It represents a triumph in perfect casting, for the motley of circus and gipsy characters which make up the human fervour of this remarkable story are chosen from the peoples of several nations.

Joe Prince, the American born circus owner, is played by Charles Bickford, the Hollywood “he man.” Zara, the blonde Continental tiger tamer, is portrayed by the lovel Norwegian, Greta Nissen, while Joe Prince’s gipsy wife and nomad lover are played by Raquel Torres, the Mexican, and Don Alvarado, romantic half Spanish son of globe trotting parents. There is 'the renegade Englishman, played by Anthony Bushell, and the simplehearted Irishman, represented by Frank Pettingell; the suave German, played by Paul Graetz, a pupil of Reinhardt; and the fresh little cockney elephant keeper, sketched by the versatile Alex Field.

It is a great story of peoples of the world; oddly assorted and often illmatched; struggling, labouring and often fighting amongst themselves in their search for adventure and the meagre rewards which their sweat and igenuity could wring from the simple public of the British countryside. “Red Wagon,” the most costly 8.1. P. film made in many years, is claimed to be the most sensational success to come from the Elstree studios since talkies began.