NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 149, 14 September 1927, Page 15

NEW REGENT

SPRING WEEK SEASON “Spring Week” at the New Regent Theatre is drawing to a close, there being only two more nights of the season, but public interest in the joyous festival of pictures, vaudeville, music, and dancing is as great as ever. Last evening a crowded house was most enthusiastic over the various offerings, while to-night’s audience, judging by the booking, will tax the theatre to capacity. The playing of “The Storm” by organ and orchestra —with Eddie Horton at the mighty Wurlitzer —is a wonderful offering, the volume of sound obtained being tremendous. Realism is obtained by stage and lightning effects—thunder, lightning, rain, wind, and bending trees. Then comes the calm, and spring is heralded in a beautiful offering by Bettina Edwards, Auckland’s premier danseuse, and Miss Cecil Hall’s Prize Ballet. The music of spring arranged for the new operatic orchestra by Maurice Guttridge, includes Binding’s “Rustle of Spring,” and Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song,’ also the Faust ballet music. In addition to his “Storm” number, Eddie Horton plays two special selections, one being his amusing variation of “It Ain’t Goin* to Rain No Mo’,” as it is played in various parts of the universe. The principal film is “Let It Rain,” Paramount’s uproarious farce, starring that inimitable light comedian, Douglas Maclean. Torrents of laughter, and gales of mirth, mark the screening of the picture from start to finish. The star appears at “Let It Rain” Riley, leader of the marines on a battleship, who is sentenced by his commander to shake hands with Kelly, a sailor, every time they met. While this sounds like a mild punishment for some of the battles they’ve fought, it really his its disadvantages. For instance, both men fall in love with the same girl. One day they go ashore, but Riley gets there first, and takes her to an amusement park. He tells the lady of his love, and they are about to go into a fond embrace when the nemesis comes along and insists on shaking hands for 15 long minutes. Fun! And how! But, in addition to laughs of this sort, “Let It Rain’ has a real story. We see a new phase of marine duty, the guarding of the mails. In fact, some of the picture’s funniest and most exciting episodes take place on a runaway mail train, the sole occupants of which are “Let It Rain,” a wounded soldier, his girl, and three bandits. The girl in the story is dainty Shirley Mason.