REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 1, 2 January 1936, Page 9

REGENT THEATRE

“HOPALONG CASSIDY” When Clarence E. Mulford began to write Western novels he infused a new colour into a branch of fiction that had begun to pall. With his delightful stories of the boys of Bar JU he not only conceived deeper plots, but brought dialogue that had never been contained in stories of similar type. Action was of brisker tempo, and there was a refreshing vein of humour. That is why “Hopalong Cassidy,” which is being screened at the Regent Theatre, is no ordinary cowboy thriller. Cassidy, Johnny Nelson, Red Connors, Buck Peters and all the rest of that unorthodox outfit shoot their way out of the pages and give fast-moving entertainment. If other stories from the same series are filmed, there is something to which liiingoers can look forward. Bar 20 and the neighbouring ranch are not on the best of terms. There is hot atmosphere over water rights, and the flame that is just being kindled is fanned by the operations of rustlers, of whom the chief is foreman of one of the ranches. "When the two outfits find that neither is to blame or the trouble, they join forces, and there is a hard-fighting climax among the rocks when they storm the rustlers. William Boyd is excellent as Cassidy, idol of the ranch, the young, the young actor, Jimmy Ellison, is well cast as tlie hot-headed Johjiuy Nelson —almost in love with the girl, on the neighbouring ranch—and Paula Stone occupies a lot of Nelson’s time. The supporting programme is long, and is | of exceptional merit. There are cellent newsreels, a Parai/'^ ull * pictorial, Grantland spormgnr, a novelty and a “Popeye” cart'oQik