ENTERTAINMENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 109, Issue 18347, 5 June 1931, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS.

TO-NIGHT’S PROGRAMMES. CIVIC THEATRE. For riotous comerly few films have surpassed “Hook, Line and Sinker," in which Robert Woolsoy and Bert' Whtelcr appear. As two impecunious but enthusiatsic life insurance salesmen who become the self-appointed guardians of the truant daughter of a wealthy widow who has planned her marriage to a man-about-town, take charge of the ramshackle hotel the girl has inherited and make it the exclusive resort of affluent society folk, the irresponsible pair move gaily through a succession of hilarious episodes. Publicity and the knowledge that the wealthy dowagers who frequent the Hotel Rlt;? de la Riviera are possessed of valuable jewellery make the place a happy hunting ground for opposing 1 bands of society “crooks." The ludicrous methods the two "proprietors,” armed with an oil lamp and clad in nightshirts, employ to cope with the invading criminals are an unfailing source of merriment and Hie plot soon develops along the lines of melodramatic farce. There is some delightful comic characterisation by Dorothy Lee as the truant daughter, and Jobyna Howland, in the part of her mother, who at first frowns on the prospect of her daughter's marriage to Wilber Boswell (Bert Wheeler), but Js finally won over by the ardent wooing of Addington Ganzy (Robert Woolsey).-

STRAND THEATRE. “The Middle Watch," the British comedy, is drawing very large audiences to the Strand Theatre- The lines are so witty, the situations so amusing,- the English accent of the players so delightful, and the production so excellent in every respect, that the attention is held throughout, and the end of the film comes all too soon. Rarely Is a fixture so universally acclaimed. Jacqueline Logan, 'the American film player, appears in the part of Mary Gallon, an American girl, who, with another girl-friend, Fay Eaton, is forced to spend a night on bdard a British warship. The girl-friend is taken by Dodo Walts, a pretty ingenue English actress. The Captain of the battleship, who develops a romance with his unexpected American guest, is played by Owen Nares, and Jack Raine acts as his Commander. Frederick Volpe jjs very convincing as the Admiral, and the corporal and marine are portrayed by Reginald Purnell and Henry Wenman respectively. The naval setting to “The Middle Watch” adds to Its charm.

"REDUCING." '“Fun In a Beauty Parlour” might easily be a substitute title for "Reducing,” the new' Marie DresslerPoily Moran co-starring comedy which will head the bill at the Strand Theatre to-morrow. In the same manner that the stock market served as the subject of fun in Iho successful "Caught Short,” so are beauty parlors, their 1 proprietors and their patrons used as the ! subject of the lampoons in the new attraction. The story revolves about two sisters, Polly Roach, who has become the successful New York beauty specialist, “Madame Rochay,” and Marie, wife of a small town mail carrier, portrayed by Lucien Littlefield. Fun begins when Marie piles her husband and' -three children, including Anita Page, on to a Pullman car en route to visit Madame Rochay. From then on the fun is fast and furious. THEATRE ROYAL. A stolen diamond necklace motivates the plot around which the rest of the story is woven in “Sweethearts and Wives," starring Billie Dove. If the necklace had not been stolen, Lady Deptford would not have been In danger of divorce from her husband; Patricia, her sister, would never have gone to the little deserted inn near Le Touquet In the South of France to recover it; Sir John Deptford would never have employed Reginald De Bret, the -most outstanding divorce detective In England, to negotiate for its return. , Tony Peel and Mrs Angela Worthington would have continued their little escapade. The deserted Inn would have been closed and they would have sought gas elsewhere, and worst of all Tony would never have met Patricia. And three crooks would still be alive to ply their trade as before. But the neoklace was stolen from Lady Deptford while she was paying a clandestine visit to another man’s apartment, and a most Intriguing story develops. “Courage,” adapted for the talking screen from the successful Tom Barry stage play, depicts a mother’s brave fight to keep her seven children, despite the outside Influences of a.material world—which Include a spiteful rich aunt—'creditors—furniture movers and what not. Belle Bennett -portrays the gay and lovable spendthrift mother.