PARAMOUNT WEEK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 211, 6 September 1934, Page 7

PARAMOUNT WEEK

THE REGENT THEATRE. ‘‘HIS.DOUBLE LIFE” TO-DAY. ‘•His Double Life,’’ now showing at the Regent, has a lively theme, which sets oil’ as comedy but broadens 1 to farce. It is usually difficult to j talk of death beds and funerals and ( provoke mirth. This film includes both in its opening scenes, and both are'so faithfully reproduced that their damper on later mirth is never completely shaken off cither by the bril- , liant subtlety and wit of dialogue or ' the hilarity generated by many comical and farcical situations. This is a pity, since Roland Young, one of the bestcomedians on the screen to-day, is seen in his best form. He plays the part of a world-famous painter whose identity becomes hopelessly entangled with that of his butler. The butler dies, is held to be the famous painter, and as such is buried in Westminster Abbey—that was how the trouble started. Lilian Gish is charming in the role of a mat-ter-of-fact woman who “catches” the butler through a matrimonial agency. When the butler turns out to be the painter, when funerals and death beds become so entangled that arrival at the truth seems impossible, she retains her equanimity and her portrayal is such that she almost “steals the show. - ' This is better than ordinary fare. “Alice in Wonderland.” To those whd have been captivated by the brilliant imagery and subtlety of Lewis Carroll, the delightfully ingenious picture, “Alice in Wonderland, ’> commencing at the Regent on Saturday, is sure to appeal. All the childlike naivety and melodrama of the inimitable author have been maintained in this excellent film upon which has been lavished the best that, the modern studio can produce, its photography and novelty being really outstanding. To group in the one production all those quaint figures which delight child and grown-up alike in reading Lewis Carroll is a task which requires no small technical ability, but the acting in this charming epic of modern films is beyond reproach. Perhaps here and there the critical observer may (*atch some slight divergences from the original theme of the story, such as, for instance, the antics of the White Knight. But on the whole, the picturegoer could find little to complain about on the count of! authenticity. Some of the best-known figures in modern pictures appear in the story. The powerful parts are (Charlotte Henry), the Cheshire Cat (Riichard Arlen), the Fish (Roscoe Ates), the White Queen (Louise Fazenda), Humpty iDumpty (W. C. Fields), and the Mad Hatter (Edward Everett Horton). Besides these there are many players who are as well or better known, and it is no unjust claim to state that “Alice in Wonderland” is one of the really entertaining pic- ' tures of the year. Charlotte Henry, as the rather dubious and timorous little girl, gives a most charming performance. all the more so in view of the support she receives from the variety of characters who crowd about her at all stages. The whimsical story, not a little coloured by some sharp barbs directed against civilisation’s more apparent conceits, is a masterpiece, and the film version of it has done excellent justice to the author