MAJESTIC THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 9

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“CRIME SCHOOL.” The boys who took the part of the slum children in “Dead End” and have since become known as the “Dead End Kids” are included in the excellent cast in the Warner Brothers’ film “Crime School,” which is to conclude its Wanganui season at the Majestic Theatre. The picture gives a stirring account of the way in which children develop into criminals when they arc surrounded by vice everywhere they go. Mumphrey Bogart, who gave an outstanding portrayal as a gangster in “Dead End,” has the chief part, while the leading feminine role is played by Gale Page. “Service De Luxe.” Comedy of an excellent standard is the feature of “Service De Luxe,” commencing to-morrow at the Majestic Theatre. The plot is sound, the cast outstanding, and the treatment a product of fine direction. The Madison Service in New York does everything for its clients from tying a dress tie to buying steam rollers, and supplies working minds for those not possessed of them. Lost necklaces, decamped flappers, mislaid passorts, and a host of other annoyances are dealt with expeditiously and satisfactorily; but it is not until a young man from the country arrives with plans for a three-way tractor that things start to move. He appears to be the one male out ofcaptivity with a mind of his own, but when he meets and falls in love with the senior Madison partner (Constance Bennett) he is unconsciously drawn in the clutches of the service. Anyhow his tractor is placed, but there are plenty of complications, all of them funny before he gets what he wants. Constance Bennett, as the supreme dispenser of service, gives what is probably her brightest comedy role to date. Her partner, hard-boiled and wisecracking, is Helen Broderick, a bright article; one of her clients Charlie Ruggles, engineer turned cookery crank, burdened with a man-mad daughter (Joy Hodges); and Ruggles’ “chef, supreme” is the delightful Mischa Auer, who, as usual, is a Russian prince in refuge. Constance Bennett’s male interest is Vincent Price, making a very capable cinema debut.