NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“NOW WE’RE IN THE Alß’’ Sounds of revelry boomed out into Queen Street last evening from the Regent Theatre. Gusts and gales of laughter—good, sound healthy laughter—the laughter which makes everyone forget their ills and troubles, greeted “Now We’re in the Air.” Mothers laughed, daughters laughed, fathers roared, uncles positively bellowed, but not one of them could disguise their genuine appreciation of the antics of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. It is all very well to be behind the enemy’s lines at an altitude of 1,000 feet, but when the gas in the balloon gives out and there are no more sandbags to throw overboard, and the enemy anti-aircraft guns are spitting hot lead all around the passenger basket, it is sufficient to cause just a little concern. This was the predicament of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, as plain Wally and Ray, in “Now We’re in the Air,” which has commenced a season at the Regent Theatre. While Wally and Ray are on solid earth they are safe (more or less), and it is not till they are mistaken for air pilots and sent aloft that their real vicissitudes commence. Each one of these men would be an entertainment in himself, but together in "Now We’re in the Air,” nothing so screamingly funny could be imagined. Mistaken for German spies they are lined against the wall—protesting wildly, until asked again to take the air. Rather than this they face the guns quietly—almost willingly! On the principle that what a woman loses by neglect can be retrieved by neglige, Florence Vidor, as Rita Farrell in “One Woman to Another,” makes an amusing but very womanly attempt to win back the big pal she almost lost through a distorted sense of duty. Everyone in the big audience at the Regent last evening enjoyed the doble-feature programme, with a Regent Review, and a spooky comedy as supports. The Regent Operatic Orchestra, under Mr. Maurice Guttridge, playing a potted overture from a score of noted composers—Wagner, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, provided a musical treat. Paderewski’t “Minuet” proved a most popular number played by Leslie V. Harvey on the Wurlitzer. “At Dawning” and an encore number, were also played by Mr. Harvey, whose performance at the organ was rewarded by the keen enthusiasm of the audience. The tint effects, and the general appointments at “The Theatre Magnificent’’ fit in so inseparably with the pictures that enjoyment and comfort are assured.