REGENT AND GRAND OPERA HOUSE.

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1929, Page 5

REGENT AND GRAND OPERA HOUSE.

. "Yes, Bill, a bath—a real bath; and see tliat 'Spooky' doesn't pinch tho soap!" The three prisoners, escaped from German captivity, had got back to London on Armistice Day, and Jimmio Gubbins, the Cockney, was Introducing his two pals to a hath at his stepmother's lodgings, the said pals being, firstly, William roster (an American who had enlisted as a British soldier) and, secondly, a shell-shocked warrior ignorant of his own identity, and known by the nickname of "Spooky." Tho feckless "Spooky" was a kleptomaniac, henco the reference to the soap. But while the Cockney was seeking to extend to his two comrades the hospitality of his stepmother, Mrs. Gubbins, this gin-drinking, middle-aged lady was aware that Foster was wanted in America—for a crimo as she thought—and that a reward of £1000 was payable on his identiIflcation. Warned of her sinister intentions by the Cockney, Foster agreed to compromise wilh Mrs. Gubbins by allowing her to betray him and earn the £1000 reward, on condition that she divided the money equally with Rose, whom Foster hoped one day to marry after clearing his name. . Before this compromise had progressed very far, "Spooky" went out at night entered the homo of the missing Lord Leicester, stole Lady Leicester's jewels, and kidnapped her baby. These events bring to the Gubbius lodging the detective forces of both Britain and tho United States, when suddenly the detectives are cheated of all their victims by a double denouement—iv the ilrst place, Poster's father in America has died and has, left him tho money to cover all his shortages and a fortune beside; iv the second place, a police baton restores "Spooky's" memory, he remembers that he is Lord Leicester, and as ho stole his own jewels and kidnapped his own . baby there is no crime. That development Is so cleverly worked up to, and the dialogue reproduction and sound effects and photography are so good, that "Three Live Ghosts" should attract large audiences to the two theatres, the Regent and the Grand Opera House, at. which it is, being screened, and where' it opened its season most auspiciously on Saturday. The peculiar title is explained by the fact that the heroes were officially reported .not as prisoners but as dead, and airs. Gubbins and tho Cockney's sweetheart leggy were actually table-rapping to call up the ghost of the Cockney when he made a dramatic appearance in their presence. First honours arc easily awarded to Beryl Mercer for her Mrs. Gubbins. This composite character was played by Jliss Mercer in' the original stage play, and her screen work is no less effectively; it deserves to rank among the first half-dozen feminine, characterisations seen on the talking screen this year. Charles Jl'Naughton as the Cockney (Mr. M'Naughton also carried the same part in the stage play) divides second honours with Claud Allistcr as

"Spooky"; both are loveable characters brilliantly played. Robert Montgomery and Joan Bennett capably present Foster and his sweetheart Rose. This picture has so many charms that it is hard to list them. It brings back the Armistice atmosphere and the "Long, Long Trail." It links genuine romance and pathos with a lively comedy. Even if it contained only the pieces of portraiture represented by Mrs. Gubbins and "Spooky" it would be worth going to see. But apart from all individual contributions, however brilliant, it is a sample of team work, and its all-round excellence could have been produced only by a ■strong all-round cast. It is a ringing comedy of Cockney London, unspoiled by twang (thougli one did not know that "buddy" was a Cockney word), and its photographic quality reaches a high point in the war scenes filmed as depicting the slowly returning memory of tho shell-shocked "Spooky." The supporting programme includes a beautiful novelty dance, "The Serpentine," by a beauteous ballet, prefaced by a lady soloist with a sweet voice that registers finely. "Realisation" is a particularly clever sketch of the unreasonable and unreasoning husband, by Hush Herien and Anita Pen; the dialogue is brilliant, the voices somewhat nasal. "Canned Music" is a fantasia by the eccentric artist, who in these drawings gives all the musical instruments legs and arms and sends them forth to harmonious battle. Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald is heard and seen in tho United States, with his daughter Isabel, who appears in this Sim as a girl of dignity and reserve force, strangely removed from the artificiality and superficiality of so many women seen on the screen. Edison's jubilee of invention, 1579-1929, is also celebrated.

Special to the Grand Opera House is Jack Lumsdaino, "the whispering tenor," who this week offers new attractions, and gives fresh evidence to support his idea of the essential affinity of jazz and the classics—"Annie Laurie" is played in the musical atmosphere of Spain, of jazzy America, of the Salvation Army, and of the bar parlour.

Special to the Regent are "The Revellers," who sing charmingly (with piano accompaniment) "Just Around the Corner" and other numbers.