AMUSEMENTS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 268, 6 December 1939, Page 1

AMUSEMENTS

( "KENTUCKY" With the glorious tradition of the Blue Grass country a.s its background and the famed Kentucky Derby as its spectacular climax, “Kentucky,” a 2l)lth. Century-Fox production which has been photographed in brilliant TeehnicohMir, is now showing, at the Regent Theatre with Loretta Young .and Richard Greene beading a fine cast.

Much of “Kentucky” was filmed on location in the heart of the Blue Ghiss state, and the picture is a revelation .of ,tho luxuriant beauty, of this land where thoroughbreds roam the meadows behind white fences. Moreover, in bringing out the depth and brilliance of the country, the jewelled.lines of the jockey’s silks, the crowds and the Derby itself, Toehnicolour was never used to hotter advantage. In fact, after seeing “Kentucky” through the lens of the Toelinicolour camera, it is difficult to imagine how the film could! possibly have been made in any other way. Nothing but colour could do justice to such a setting,* and Jew stories could so richly deserve the considerably more expensive technique of Colour photography. The outbreak of the Civil Y\ ar forms what might almost be termed a prologue to the story; it establishes a feud between the houses ot Dillon and Goodwin which continues through all the years that follow, up to the present time. Then Jack Dillon, played by Diehard Greene, returns from an .eight-year stay in England and Jails .in love with Sally Goodwin (Loretta Young). Shortly .after his return, Jack gets into, a quarrel with his father and leaves home. He looks for a job at the Goodwill stables as a trainer and, since they don’t know lie’s a Dillon, gets it. The romance between .Sally and Jack starts that day. Sally’s lather dies suddenly anil .she and her unde Peter (Walter Brennan) are forced to sell everything at auction, keeping only Sally’s favourite horse. And then, to make their misfortune complete, that animal is ruined for racing when Sally has to ride him through a thunderstorm to save her mother's life. One day, by mere chance, a note is discovered in which Goodwin had won .u wager fiom Dillon, allowing him the pick of any two-year-old in the Dillon stable. The horse is selected and entered in the Kentucky Derby, with the Dillon entry a. favourite in a field of great horses. Tin* Derby itself, with a hundred thousand shouting spectators supplies the great dlramatie climax to th<* film.