KING’S THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 16

KING’S THEATRE

*“Trade Winds” Two years ago director Tay Garnett set off on a round-the-world cruise in a yacht equipped with a complete him laboratory and with cameramen among the passengers. Out of Mr. Garnett’s 18,000 miles of cruising nas come, not a glorified travelogue—which is what one might have expected—but a pleasantly unusual comedy-drama entitled "Trade Winds.” which runs up and dowu the scale of human emotions as well as halfway round the globe. More uotable even than the scenic backgrounds which the director brought back from his cruise are the contributions made in the studio by Dorothy Parker and

the two collaborators who wrote tne very smart dialogue, and by Fredric March, Joan Bennett, and Ralph Bellamy, who give the leading performances. The main criticism against the picture, which is now .showing at the King's Theatre, is that of uncertainty

of mood: It never . seems quite certain whether to take itselt seriously or not. In the course of the story Fredric March makes love to about a • dozen different women with complete cynicism, but is terribly in earnest about his romance with the heroine, Joan Bennett, though Miss Bennett herself is also a rather mixed personality. Yet both are very much" at ease in their acting, their performances being among the better ones they have given. This is the tilm in which Joan Bennett dyes her hair black and becomes the double of Hedy Lamarr. The change from blonde to brunette is made in consequence of Miss Bennett’s flight from justice when wanted for murder in San Francisco. Tay Garnett employs his picturesque scenic .backgrounds by having the heroine chased by Detective Fredrie March to Hawaii, and thence to Singapore and Ceylon. Here —as was only to be expected—they fall in love. They are married on a boat near Bombay. They settle down to married life on the Laccadive Islands, but their idyll is shattered by the appearance of another detective, less easily turned aside from the path of duty than March. So the narrative returns to San Francisco for its surprising climax, and —is it necessary to add?—a happy ending. The antics of the minor characters are very nearly as diverting as those of the stars. Bellamy’s character of a plodding detective is reminiscent of his highly successful role in “The Awful Truth”; Ann Sotbern also has plenty of chance to show her flair for comedy. “Trade Winds’’ is a queer compound of entertainment, but it is almost entirely palatable.