THE NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 15

THE NEW REGENT

DENNY IN “THE CHEERFUL FRAUD”

Reginald Denny, popular Universal comedian, continues to send packed audiences into hysterics at the Regent with his latest and most hilarious offering “The Cheerful Fraud.'” It is a scream from beginning to end, and Denny, as the baronet who lies and lies and lies to win the girl of his heart, simply revels in the part, presenting his admirers with several thousand feet of glorious fun. Despite the title of the film, the members of the cast were convinced during the making of the picture that its name should have been “Rain.” Buckets, tubs, vats, gallons, hogsheads of artificial rain were poured on the heads of the cast in “The Cheerful Fraud.” One of the members of the company, being statistically inclined, deduced that some 300,000 gallons of water were used in keeping the company wet and cold. With the exception of five or six scenes it rains constantly during the entire story of “The Cheerful Fraud.” The hero and heroine meet in the rain, they are driven indoors while he is proposing marriage by a sudden storm. The villain runs away with the jewels and is pursued in a thrilling comedy chase through a driving rainfall. And even the final fadeout, with hero and heroine reunited after enough comic troubles to last a lifetime, was staged with gleeful assistants pouring water on the heads of the actors. The members of the cast became so accustomed to stalking about in the rain that they came to wear raincoats unconsciously even when they were not working. Inasmuch as the picture was made in mid-summer with the mercury constantly lurking about the century mark, this was more or less surprising to others at the studio.

Bertini, the vagabond composer, of the J. C. Williamson Celebrity Vaudeville, is meeting with renewed success with his latest act, “A Night at the Club.” Eddie Horton plays request numbers and special items on the Wurlitzer and a splendid musical programme is presented by the new Operatic Orchestra, under the direction of Maurice Guttridge.