REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 199, 26 August 1935, Page 9

REGENT THEATRE

“RUGGLES OF RED GAP.” Charles Laughton gives a superb comedy performance in “Ruggles of Red Gap,” the hilarious new film which met with the unaquilfied ap- ' proval of crowded houses ou Sat- | urday at the Regent Theatre. It is the actor's favourite role on stage and screen. Not only is it one of the most genuinely moving pictures to have reached the screen, but it is riotous comedy, directed by Leo MeCarey, who has handled all the film appearances of the Marx Brothers. But in spite of the laughs, which are numerous and long, the film ha s the wistful 1 undercurrent of all true clowning. The ! story of “Ruggles of Red Gap” is something of an American classic, by ; Harry Leon Wilson, who wrote “Merton of the Movies.” It is the simple : biography of Ruggles, an English valet I of 1908, who goes as man-servant to I the little one-horse town of Red Gap, in the State of Washington, finds his', independence, and becomes a person of I consequence in the town. When I “Ruggles” was filmed in the silent I days, with Ernest Torrence and ' Edward Everett Horton, it was a straightforward comedy of small-town manners. It was good fun, and nothing more. The modern version is dif- ! fercut. It is a brilliant study of a selfeffacing man-servant suddenly flung into a country that has no inhibitions. s Charles Laughton achieves a magnifi- * cent triumph of another sort to add to 1 hig Nero and Henry Vlll. From first to last he dominates the film with his polish and sureness of touch, but he also has the assistance of a splendid J supporting cast. Charles Ruggles is in i his element as Egbert Floud, a typical smalltown American with perfect taste in check suitings, and Mary J Boland is deliciously funny as his ' socially-ambitious wife. Then there < are Roland Young, as a somewhat inef- f fectual English early, Zasu Pitts, as a J hopeful widow, Leila Hyams, as a cabaret entertainer, and Lucien Little J field, as a family prude. Above the • general excellence of 'the film there p stand out some notable scenes. The ‘' episode in which two Ameri- j 1 can s succeed in persuading the humble I 1 Ruggles to join them in “some real I drinking” on a Paris boulevarde, and p their subsequent encounter with Mrs. Floud, is a perfect blend of slap-stick I ! and subtlety. “Flying Bodies,” a 1 swimming spotlight, two Paramount i newsreels, with an artistic Paramount Pictorial and an imaginative Paramount Colour Classic, complete a first rate programme. Prior to the commencement of Sat- ' urday night’s programme the Regent ' Ambasasdors delighted listeners with • cld and new melodies from popular ’ Fai amount pictures.