ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 5 January 1931, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE: “ON APPROVAL” “On Approval,” Frederick Lonsdale s smart and witty comedy has now been made into a talkie, and judging by its inception at the Regent Theatre on Saturday last, it will be screened for the last time to-night to a packed house. With one exception the cast is the same as that in the other great success “Rookery Nook.” The acting throughout is excellent, and the sparkling wit had the packed houses simmering with merriment throughout—that is in tho few moments when the audience were not laughing uproariously. The story told is of four people, two of them utterly selfish and two thoroughly selfsacrificing. The climax is a. suitable one to such an outstanding effort on the part of the players and the producer. “MONTANA MOON” Mctro-Goldwyn-Mayer will present Joan Crawford to-morrow night and Wednesday at the Regent Theatre in “Montana’Moon” a musical romance of tho West'. The story is an original and Miss Craw ford’is supporting cast includes: John Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Ricardo Cortez, Benny Rubin. Cliff Edwards and Karl Dane. This is one of the first pictures to be filmed without the use of artificial scenery, all tlie exterior scenes being taken on a cattle iamb in the San Jacinto Mountains, 200 miles north of Los Angelos. A large part of the extra cast was recruited from the cowboys employed on a local ranch. The story concerns a New York debutante who visits her father’s extensive holdings in Montana and falls in love with a cowboy. The conflict between their love and the disparity in their social positions forms the the dramatic situation. Advance reports have it that “Montana Moon” is by far the most lavish production in which Miss Crawford has yet appeared, particular stress having been laid on the wealth of scenic beauty on hand and the contrast betwen the Western locale and that of the sophisticated Park Avenue environment, with which the star has heretofore been almost exclusively associated.

MAJESTIC THEATRE: “WILLIAM POWELL IN “FOR THE DEFENCE’

• William Powell, screendom’s great actor, whose powerful portrayals of worldly men have gained him pride of place among the dramatic and speaking artists of the films, will be seen and heard in another dramatic production when Paramount’s “For the Defence’ comes to the Majestic ‘ Theatre to-mor-row. “For the Defence” is a story of a brilliant and crafty attorney whose sensational work in the courts of- the big city attracts world-wide attention. He is so successful in defending his clients, Unany of them criminals with vicious past records, that he incurs the enmity of the police. It is this animosity which plays a part in bringing Powell himself before the bar of justice as a prisoner. Through a series of thrilling dramatic twists the story shows Powell faced with a gaol threat from which he cannot escape without incriminating the woman he loves. The finale is one of the most tremendous ever produced. Kay Francis, who was Powell’s neglected wife in “Street of Chance,” is not nearly so neglected in the role of his sweetheart in “For the Defence.” Many movie critics have picked Miss Francis as the ideal partner for Powell. In “For the Defence,” she certainly fulfils the choice. Her work is better here than ever in her long series of supporting roles in the talkies. “For the Defence” was written by Oliver 11. P. Garrett, and is based on a story by Charles Furthmann, former criminal lawyer who left a brilliant re-1 cord in Chicago to enter the field of motion picture writing.