ENTERTAINMENTS

Waipa Post, Volume 49, Issue 3554, 6 December 1934, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

•REGENT THEATRE. : |" TO-NIGHT AND'ON FRIDAY. . ’’ “MILLION DOLLAR RANSOM,” aa’ A . . • * ■ '• -.’••y crt ■[ '. ■ . £ The same class of people who for amexalted reasons rejoiced when Prohibition came into effect in America, ■were first to deplore its passing with ■Repeal. In Universal’s “Million Dollar Ransom,” the-sensational Damon Runyon story which was' published in Cosmopolitan M&gazine, the bootlegigers and racke J >iers who - were • left high and dry last year, actually hanker after the old Prqhibition days, when money wo a plentiful and they knew where and how to get it. With the arrival of Repeal, this mob ;was left out in the cold. .The government made a clean sweep of them, confiscating their possessions, depleting them, of their money and power and sending most of them to jail. When they got out it was a different story and such a story is Damon Runyon’s “Million Dollar Ransom,” which come s to the Regent Theatre to-night and to-morrow, with a brilliant cast headed by Phillips Holmes, Mary Carlisle, and Edward Arnold. Arnold plays the tough liquor king who returns from Leavenworth, a sadder but wiser'citizen. He is through with the racket and he knows it. But when an opportunity comes along that will net him Is. tidy fortune and still keep him on the right side of the law, hfe grabs the chance. But what about Ihjis former pals? They too are broke and looking .for easy money. Will they let him get away with it,? These questions a,re answered with sizzling situations and tensely dramatic moments in a way only that master writer Damon Runyon could. It is the picture of the year and as new as today’s newspaper.

SATURDAY AND MONDAY. J • • “HANDY ANDY.” His wife wanted him to retire and play a little .... but! all play and no work makes Will a wild boy. That, in brief, is the story, of Will Rogers’ latest picture, “Handy Andy,” coming to the Regent Theatre on Saturday and Monday. Advance reports from the pi ‘ev’iews say this is the funniest comedy of his career. And tjiq highlights of the story bear this out. Will is getting along comfort-

ably in his drug store, when his wife. Peggy Wood, persuades him to sell out. . First he takes up pigeon raising, but he has to stop that when his pets fly all over the house. Next he takes up golf, with unroarious results. Then his wife and daughter, Mary Carlisle, persuade him to attend the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. That’s when things really begin to happen. Will begs off from attending the Comus costume ball. Wandering around alone, he gets acquainted with a fellow druggist and hi-, dashing girl friend, Conchita Montenegro. A few cocktails make him change his mind about thei ball, and he attends with Conchita, chctosing a Tarzan ieopiard-skin costume. A. few more cocktails help persuade him to do an hilarious adagio dance with Conchita—and the ball bceaks up with lar riot. Of course there’s more to the story than tlhat. Much more. Among other things, Will serves as cupid in his daughter’s romance with a young man his wife doesn’t approve of. And there’s a surprise ending that can’t be tipped off in advance. David Butler, who also directed Rogers in “The Com pecticut Yankee,” directed “Handy Andy.”

AT THE EMPIRE. FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND MONDAY. V ‘ “THE SONG YOU GAVE ME.” They all loved Mitzi—they were her devoted admirers, and you’ll love her too, lafter you’ve seen “The Song You Gave Me,” the new Bebe Daniels’ picture at the Empire Theatre on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Bebe scores a big personal success as Mitzi Hansen, famous musical comedy star, and is suppoi-ted by Victor Varconi, another recruit to toe British screen from Hollywood. A)n engaging story spun in a disarming manner, full of charm and whimsical gaiety, provides an ideal setting for Bebe Daniels’ first British picture. Men revolved around Mitzi like planets round the sun, but there was just one man who remained impei-vious to her charms, and that was the ma.n she loved. He publicly insulted her. in a night club, and then i mplied for a job as her secretary. She took him into her service and her heai't, but all he gave her was a song. He disappeared at nine every c oning to return at eleven, but Mitzi learned of his love for her from the woman he visited. Did Mitzi lose her secretary or a husband ? To solve these mysteries and enjoy an hour and a half’s superentertainment, you must see “The Song You Glove Me.” Miss Daniels gives a remarkable performance, land renders

in her own delightful manner—remember her lovely voice in “Rio Rita” ? —two song numbers, “The Captain of the Guard” and “The Song You Gave Me,” which will, in a short space of time, be on everyone’s lips. Victor Varconi gives ia, sterling performance as tihe humble but adoring secretary, who becomes ensnared ir. Bcbe’s web of charm, and Frederick Lloyd, Lester Matthews, and Claude Hulbert, names well-known to film • goers, ailso figure jv.iominently in the love stakes as three of Bebe’s devoted cavaliers.