STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1941, Page 8

STATE THEATRE

A GREAT DRAMA. Tonight the change of programme at the State Theatre will be headed by that great drama depicting the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle. This magnificently dramatic picture is told to the tunes of memory’s fondest melodies, including such old favourites as “Tipperary,” “Oh, You Beautiful Doll” and other songs which New Zealand soldiers sang during the Great War. The story of the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle provides material for one of the most dramatic pictures ever placed before an audience. The starring roles are taken by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver and Walter Brennan. Brilliant dancing acts are presented by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and these have caused a sensation wherever shown. The tuneful songs, too, make an immediate appeal, and altogether the picture is one which provides something outstanding in “talkies.” The film’s story begins with Vernon Castle at the time when he was a knockabout “stooge” for comedian Lev,' Fields. Fields, incidently, plays himself in the picture. Vernon meets Irene, an enthusiastic but untrained amateur dancer, and the two are married. She persuades him to give up comedy for dancing and they form a team. When they are rebuffed in New York, they go to Paris, and by a lucky accident get a start there. Soon they are the sensation of two continents, and their meteoric career, ended by Vernon’s enlistment in the Royal Flying Corps—to be followed four years later by his death in a Texas air crash —forms the colourful basis of the plot.