TO-NIGHT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 232, 23 May 1932, Page 3

TO-NIGHT

Sparkling in its comedy and filled with the personality of Marilyn Miller, "Sunny," the First National and Vitaphone version of the stage play, opens to-night at the Majestic Theatre. "Sunny" is something distinct as , a picture type. It follows no conventional lines. Taken from Miss Miller's famous stage success, which ran for three years, "Sunny" on the talking screen is essentially a eomedyromance. It is built around the personality of Miss Miller, who, as the bareback rider in a little cireus at Southampton.is loved by all, but loves Tom — Lawrence Gray, whom she had met in past years. He is in society and is just sailing from Southampton with his fiancee. The story then moves on, in a delightful manner that is half serious and half tomfoolery, to a iransatlantic liner. "Sunny" smuggles herself aboard by mistake. One of the highly entertaining sequences is the dock scene, where Miss Miller is in overalls and is mistaken for a stevedore. It is a fine bit of clowning, and proves the star to be a comedienne of the first water. The picture introduces to the public a new screen name, that of Joe Donahue, brother of the famous Jack. Joe is as Irish as his name implies. He, of course, goes to America on the same liner as does O. P. Heggie, "Sunny's" rascally father and manager of the circus. Joe marries Marilyn just to oblige her and to help her ge.t into the United States. Joe is a splendid dancer, and makes a very able partner for Miss Miller in a couple of tap dances and an adagio. "Sunny" is unusual in that, although there are several dances, there is no chorus. There are several songs, including the famous "Who." One of the most amusing numbers is the "divorce song." It is decidedly modern in trend. Miss Miller's singing, as always, has tremendous appeal and eharm.