REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 228, 28 September 1935, Page 11

REGENT THEATRE

“G-MEN” COMMENCES TO-DAY. Gangsters had to be suppressed. Il was obvious to everyone in America, and yet the Federal agents whose job it was to check the nation’s crime went unprotected. Finally, with unarmed men shot in the line of duty, policy changed as it must change. The Government agent', better known as the “G-Men,” v, e armed, and the ruthless war against all gangsters and particularly the ‘public enemies” began. The story of the rooting out of the gangsters is known briefly from cable news, to everyone in New Zealand, but everyone who is interested in a page of modern history, rather than a milestone in the history of police work, should see “G-Men,” which commences screening to-day at the Regent Theatre. It is exceptional entertainment, and not to be judged on ordinary film standards. The acting is as good, or better than in most films, but the story itself is an amazing and a thrilling record. For sheer speed of action, and for realism, “G-Men” is remarkable. There is not a dragging moment in the story, and so swift is the action that events follow one another with breath-taking rapidity, and without seeming in the least improbable—as they are not. James Cagney as a lawyer whose honesty prevents his success, turns into an unforgettable detective., From beginning to end, his performance impresses, and yet he is as unlike the traditional melodramatic hero as Charlie Chaplin would have been. But even his acting is subordinated to the interest of the story, and perhaps that is the highest compliment that could be paid to a film. Margaret Lindsay, Ann Dvorak, and a host of minor characters are almost as god as Cagney, and the weaving of a romance in between a tangle of murders, machine-guns, and master criminals is an interesting and integral part of a good story. It is said of many films that they work to a thrilling climax, of others that they are packed with excitement, but of few can it be said that they present a vivid and accurate record of almost unbelievable warfare that actually happened in a country at peace. The film | as entertainment is remarkable, as an i exhibition of good acting it is mcri- | torious, but as a record of the history , of our own day it is unforgettable.