AMUSEMENTS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 167, 5 April 1939, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS

“HOLLYWOOD HOTEL” Catchy songs, magnificent settings, two famous band organisations, a swiftly paced inside story of Hollywood life, a star-studded cast headed by Dick Powell and Lduella O. Parsons, are some of the elements which make up what is apparently going to be the>-smashrhit musical of the season screens Thursday :at ■ .the ..Regent Theatre.' ” " ■*.

Inclusion in the picture- of an ..entire, broadfcast of the most famous' of all air programmes—“Hollywood Hotel”—meant adding enormously to thecost of a production already ledgered in astronomical numbers. But the AVa flier studio-took the band off the bank roll, and went toi town. Pe.su It is a filmusical which gives' tlr<sbandit? ence double ' value'-, in the loveliest, laughtingest, dizziest, singingest picture of the year.

.Dick Powell in the best role of liis Cateor: gives an' endearing acting perfo.fnuince—sings' times that will send millions away whistling ’em., Opposite- him play two of the' famous Lane sisters—Lola as a temperamental movie- queen who refuses to appear at a premiere for her produc-er.-and Rosemary- as a. little unknown waitress who is called! in- to double socially for the star. *

% stellar array of laugh-makers are at their rollicking, the freelance ''photographer who be- , comes Dick TJowell’s manager and Hugh Herbert as the befuddled father of the movie star give inimitable performances. Alan Mowbray playing .the' handsome ham leading' man: does it to any queen’s taste. Mabel Todd;' Allyn Joslyn and Johnnie Davies all', outdo themselves. ->. ; Benny Goodman and his swing band) and Raymond; Paige and his orchestra, hit the musical high spots. “GOOD MORNING BOYS” ‘ ‘Good Moftiing Boys’ ’ which stars WilLHiny and. screens at the Regent Theatre oh, is hilariously funny and provides enjoyable entertainment for the whole- family. ' •“JUDGE HARD’S CHILDREN” .The audience becomes part of a delightful family* in “Judge Hard’s Children j” : third of the “Hardy Family.” series,.. which screens Saturday at tire ftpgentf Theatre*. They share the ■ problems of the father and mother and the joys and tribuations of the chidren, andi they laugh with the characters rather than at them in the homely, down-to-earth comedy scenes. The picture, above all else, is intensely human. It deals with people everyone knows as next door neighbours. ft is this charm which was notable in “Ah Wilderness!” that jnakes the series always a -thing of joy.

“WESTERN COLD” Taming a bandit-ridden frontier 'with 7 his .blazing guns and dynamite fists,- and winning a girl’s heart with liis lilting .songs, Smith Ballew, radio’s greatest singing cowboy, becomes Harold Beil Wright’s most thrilling hfero in “Western Gold,” Twentieth Uentury-Fox release, featuring Heat In er Angel, screening * Saturday at. the Regent Theatre. ", Ordered by President • Lincoln to “geJU/tliej. gold through !”, the screen’s >Western yhero blazes a trail through treacherous mountain passes to ‘the tune of whining bullets as he. defies, file desperadoes whose depredktiQjW on the gold coaches from- the rich- fields of California and Nevada are-..pndangering the financial stability of the Union. Adding the' interest of actual historical occurrence to the romance and colour,adventure and sweeping grandeur typical of Harold Bell Wright’s screen*, stories, “Western Gold” is a . Principal Production directed bv Howard Bretliefton, a,nd features® such natural scenic photography -as ,has /; seldom graced the screen. > • . ■ .y. . ‘ ‘SPEED' TO BURN ’ ’ Acclaimed by. screen previewers to be “all that’s grand in romance and racing—apd entertainment—” “Speed To Burn,” .first of ai ne wseries from 20th. Century-Fox, comes .Monday to the Regent Theatre. A heartwarming] w human story of one of the world’s most , exciting sports, the film is rich with all the romance and colour of the race track. It introduces a new screen family, theGamhinis, destined for immediate favour in the affections of all filmgoers. Into the lives of the Gamhinis comes the boundless love of a man for his girl, the dauntless faith of a yoy in his gallant thorough lived, and the thrill of an exciting victory. Michael Whalen and Lynn Bari headl the featured cast : in a story built around War Paint, a race horse. “PRISON FARM” Lovely Shirley Ross, who scored recently in the “Big Broadcast of 1038”, is teamed opposite stalwart Lloyd Nolan in Paramount’s new drama of life in a penal colony, “Prison Farm,” which will have its local premiere Monday at the Regent Theatre. It is a human story of an inniiocent girl exposed to the shocking conditions of a backward prison camp liecause of her love for a criminal. Prominent in the supporting cast are John Howard, the popular “Bulldog Drummond”. J. Carrol Naisli and Porter Hall.