REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 205, 31 August 1936, Page 9

REGENT THEATRE

“DESIRE” A brisk pace, breezy dialogue, inspired situations, flawless acting, and I lavish production combine to lift the ■ Paramount film “Desire” far above i the ordinary run of romantic I comedies. It i.s now being screened at the Regent Theatre. Exhilarating : is the only word that properly de- • scribes the story, the acting of Mar- ; lene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, and : the work of Ernst Lubitsch, who per- J sonally supervised the production. I “Desire” stands as Miss Dicl rich’s . best Hollywood film to date. While ■ retaining all her pristine glamour, she reveals a hitherto unsuspected sense of humour. And “Desire” also shows Gary Cooper to be an actor with as great a flair for light comedy as he ' has for drama —a subtle and sure plyer who knows the value of restraint and when to employ it. “Wo have seldom seen better acting,” comments the British Film Weekly. Technically it is flawless. Yet, like all really good act inti it is so good that it does not for a moment, remind you of acting. Frankly, we would not have believed that Gary Cooper had it in him. The lovely Miss Dietrich, costumed in a series of wonderful gowns, plays an adventuress who steals a pearl necklace in Paris and races off with it to her accomplice (John Halliday) across the border. Driving the same way, holiday bent, is Gary Cooper, as an engineer from Detroit. To escape detection from Customs officials at the border, the beautiful bandit, slips the necklace into the young man’s pocket, with the intention of getting it back later. The way she gets it back, the daring romance which follows between the two, and the manner in which Ihe heroine finally decides that life in Detroit is preferable to crime on the Continent, go to make up one of the most exihilarating stories of this or any other season. This morning at 10.30 there will be a Popeye the Sailor matinee and Buck Jones in “Forbidden Trails.” The auspicious opening of Paramount Week on Saturday night was further enhanced by a most artistic rendition by the Regent Concert Orchestra of the theme song from the picture “Awake in a Dream.’’ I Miss Doris Hughes, who is the pos- | sessor of a rich soprano voice, received 1 hearty applause for her vocal presentation of the refrain.