REGENT THEATRE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 21, 28 April 1947, Page 5

REGENT THEATRE

“A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN” Tuesday 29, Wednesday 30. No picture in recent years has had such a, phenomenal effect on so phenomenal a number of careers as has “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” the 20th Century-Fox filmisation of Betty Smith’s sensational best-sell-er which opens tomorrow at the Regent Theatre.

Elia Kazan, the brilliant young Broadway stage director, resisted all Hollywood offers until 20th CenturyFox sought him to direct the film version of the heart-warming Betty Smith novel. Now his future is in Hollywood, rather than in New York.

Dorothy McGuire, who first became famous three years ago in the role of “Claudia” on Broadway, then last year repeated the role of the amusing, scatter-brained young bride on the screen, has a chance to prove in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” that she has other possibilities. She plays the dramatic young wife and mother, “Katie Nolan,” who makes a poignant struggle against poverty. The role of her husband, “Johnny Nolan,” has brought James Dunn back from the outskirts of fame to the centre of the Hollywood spotlight. The smiling Irishman is on the verge of stardon again—and, insiders add, a nomination for the Academy Award. Joan Blondell, heretofore associated with wisecracking modern roles, embarks upon her first ‘character” portrayal: the role of colourful .“Aunt Sissy.” 4 As “McShane,” the handsome new policeman on the blo&c, Lloyd Nolan late of villain roles, wins .the girl for the first time in his cinematic career-—and faces a bright new film future.