MURDER AND VARIETY.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 117, 20 May 1939, Page 15

MURDER AND VARIETY.

"PREMIERE" AT MAJESTIC

Those who view English, film offer* i fngs with a certain amount of suspicion should waste no time in seeing "Premiere," now showing at the Majestic Theatre. This picture has all the ingredients of first-class entertainment—song, dance, back-stage atmos- ~' ere, and an interesting and quite painless murder which is solved by 1 super-sleuth in double-quick time. The entire action of the film takes place over a period of live hours.-It commences just before the opening of a new Paris revue, and ends when j the curtain comes down on the final j act. During those short hours, how- ' ' ever, the backer of the show, a rather ' odious person whom no one likes, "as ' threatened twice with a gun. In ah. • act of the show in which pistols are used to fire blanks, the backer is shot dead in his box, where he sits alone..' '! . Fortunately, a famous detective is in. i . the house, and as the show goes on he > is sent for to find the slayer. As he feverishly interviews suspects and tracks down clue after clue, the danc* ' "*: ing and singing go on, and the audience applauds. He has a difficult job to face, as there are at least five sus- j pects, but at last, by a combination of | science and deductive skill, he is able < to identify the murderer. f The settings of the show are of the , highest quality, and rival anything j which has come from America. The , variety acts are all first-class, and tha I " dancing is really excellent. It is very I unusual to see a film in. which even. \ the principals are unfamiliar to screen. > audiences, but such.is the case in this I picture. All the performers are well- ! known as stage stars, and amply jus- ■. tify their stage popularity. . >. Splendid performances are given by ' Joan Marion, as a former star of the j show, Wallace Geoffrey, as the backer t who displeased too many people, Hugh ' Williams, as the leading man, Judy ; ' Kelly, as the charming leading lady, , and John Lodge as the detective. • . Excellent supports include .a docu- j , mentary film on Cleopatra, an animal j study, "A Dog's Life," a colour car- , toon, and newsreels. ,; '