MAJESTIC THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 187, 10 August 1931, Page 11

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“THE PRODIGAL’’ .Lawrence Tibbett will gain a good many more admirers as a result of| “The Prodigal,” his latest starring; vehicle for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now at the Majestic Theatre. A | story of the old South, the picture; teems with colourful incident, and there! 'are a host of delightful interludes, not! the least enjoyable of which is the great singer’s songs. Tibbett will be seen as a prodigal sou who has been roaming the country with a band of tramps. Ho stops off at his home to see his mother and for the first time becomes acquainted with his brother’s wife, Antonia. Antonia is miserably unhappy with her tyrannical husband and is about to elope with a former lover. In his attempts to preserve the family integrity, Tibbett succumbs to the charms of the bewitching Antonia and finds himself in a compromising position. The unraveling of the situascrcen plot. Another unusual phase of tion makes for an extremely dramatic the picture is a spectacular negro barbecue scene in which Tibbett, together with a chorus of several hundred voices, sings “A Child is Born” and “Chidlins,” written by Herbert Stothart and Howard Johnson. Other sungs sung at various points in the story are “Life is a Dream,” by Oscar Straus and Arthur Freed; “Without a Song,” by Vincent. Youmans, and a comic ballad “Looks Like Pappy.” Much of the charm of this picture is credited to its picturesque locales, duplicating the languorous beauty of the old plantation estates and colonial ? mansions. A colourful fox-hunting scene is said to be a particularly artistic photographic achievement.