REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 93, 21 April 1939, Page 9

REGENT THEATRE

“BLONDES AT WORK" AND "ONE MILE FROM HEAVEN” “Blondes at Work,” another of those exciting and amusing film stories about "Torchy Blane,” the girl reporter, will conclude to-day at the Regent Theatre. This is the fourth in the series of the adventures of the fast-talking, wise-cracking and somewhat hard-boiled female journalist—played inimitably by Glenda Farrell. And, as in the previous "Torchy” yarns, her boy friend, Police Lieutenant Steve Mcßride, is portrayed by big, burly Barton Mac Lane. In the cast also are Tom Kennedy, Rosella Towne, Donald Briggs, Thomas E. Jackson, Kenneth Harlan, Jean Benedict and that splendid old-time favourite of silent pictures, Betty Compson, who seems to lie making a successful comeback under the Warner banner. "One Mile From Heaven” is the title of the Twentieth CenturyFox picture which is the associate feature. Besides Claire Trevor, "One Mile From Heaven” features Sally Blane, Douglas Fowley, Fred! Washington, and tap-dancer Bill Robinson. “Gambling Ship" and “Mr. Wong, Detective.” Good, exciting entertainment is provided by the double-feature programme coming to-morrow to the Regent Theatre. A casino at sea gives the name to "Gambling Ship,” which carries off the honours of the programme. One of the strange things about the gambling ship is that it run on honest lines by Steve Riley (Selmar Jackson) and that a large share of the profits go to support an orphanage. However, the activities of the honest gambler do not suit "The Professor,” secretly a gang leader, who runs another sort of gambling resort,

and when Riley refuses to talk business the Professor resorts to other methods and Riley is murdered. His daughter, Mollie (Helen Mack), then learns for the first time the real source of her father's wealth, but insists on carrying on his gambling ship. “James Lee Wong," in the person of Boris Karloff, makes his bow in Monogram’s "Mr. Wortg, Detective,” which is the associate feature. Joining the company of Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, the Saint, Philo Vance and others, James Lee Wong, newest screen sleuth, is a fugitive from “Collier's Magazine," and a creation of Hugh Wiley, because for many years Mr. Wiley's “Wong” stories have been appearing in that publication. James Lee Wong is a native of San Francisco, an educated, cultural Chinese. He is a scientist “test tube" detective, who revels in intricate cases. The more baffling the mystery the more intrigued is Mr. Wong.