GOOD WESTERN

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3288, 14 July 1943, Page 8

GOOD WESTERN

‘SECRETS OF WASTELANDS’ PROGRAMME AT REGENT “BLONDIE FOR VICTORY” ALSO Some sixty-odd minutes of bang-up action, embracing some of the finest feats of horsemanship «and gunplay ever 'caught by the motion picture camera will be on view at the Regent Theatre, when “Secret of the Wastelands,” latest of the “Hopalong” Cassidy action romances shows on Thursday and Friday. With William Boyd again in the saddle as the redoubtable Cassidy, the cowboy character created by Clarence E. Mulford, “Secret of the Wastelands” tells the story of a hidden gold mine, known to a race of vanished Americans on the plains but re-discov-ered and worked by a secret Chinese society. When a crooked lawyer attempts to wrest the mine from the Chinese, things begin to ’ happen in the usually highly satisfactory manner which action fans have learned to expect from Cassidy. Besides being excellent entertainment, “Secret of the Wastelands” is notable for the fact that it serves to introduce to movie-goers, two new personalities who, from where this reviewer is sitting, look like star timber. One is lovely Barbara Britton, a blonde 19-year-oldster who comes to the screen fresh from winning the title of Miss Long Beach in a recent beauty contest. It should be inscribed

for the record that Long Beach, California, is famous for the beauties of its feminine citizenry. The second is Brad King, a gent who, among other things, has some thirty-five or so rodeo championships to his credit. Besides being an excellent rider, King has a rugged, masculine personality which will make, him popular with fans of both sexes. Besides, he can sing and play the banjo. He was found' in a Reno rodeo by Harry Sherman, producer of the “Hopalong” films. That Sherman knows how to pick ’em is one of the best-known facts about Hollywood. Others in the big cast are. Soo Yong, exotic Chinese beauty who “registered” in “China Seas,” “The Good Earth” and other Chinese pictures; Douglas Fowley, Keith Richards, Richard Loo, Lee Tung Foo, Gordon Hart and Earl Gunn.

The war is affecting every family in the world, one way or another. The Bumstead Family, Of - screen, radio and comic strip fame,-is no exception. In Columbia’s “Blondie for Victory,”

which will also show at the Regent Theatre on Thursday and Friday, the Bumsteads go all-out for defence of America’s right to laugh and be happy. Penny Singleton - continues as “ Blondie,” who currently is enlisting foi’ the duration ... of Dagwood’s patience! She organises The Housewives of America, a band of patriotic women who devote so much time to war activities that they can’t be bothered with domestic morale. Thus, Dagwood is forced to shift for himself, Alexander (erstwhile Baby Dumpling), the new baby Cookie, Daisy and her litter of six puppies. Similarly, in other homes, men who are doing-important war work—building planes, drafting battleship designs, etc. —are so absorbed in domestic routine that their war work suffers.

The net result is edifying, and highly entertaining. “Blondie” eventually is brought to a true realisation of just how the housewives of America can do their bit for victory, enthusiastically anh effectively.. The process of teaching “Blondie” a lesson is said to result in one of the most delightful of all the comedies. FINALLY TO-NIGHT “DANNY BOY” “Danny Boy” will show Anally tonight at the Regent Theatre.