ADOLPHE AND FLORENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 364, 26 May 1928, Page 15

ADOLPHE AND FLORENCE

REGENT’S NEW PROGRAMME With two famous screen names on its bill, Adolphe Menjou and Florence Vidor, the Regent Theatre must attract crowds this week. These stars are in separate films, so that in length alone the programme beats the longest seen here for weeks. In addition to these two ou£-of-the-way comedy-dramas, the Regent management has gone out of its way to provide “a miniature musical comedy” entitled ‘‘Chez Louise.” For the purposes of the piece the stage becomes a millinery shop, complete with a bevy of pretty mannequins, and Louise the frivolous proprietress. In song and dance, including “The Yale Blues,” the company revels for 20 minutes and finishes with an effective ensemble and finale. Louise is the hit of the show, of course. One has seen Adolphe Menjou as a prince, as a waiter, and as a “loungelizard,” bu in “SSerenade” he breaks altogether new ground and becomes a musician. In many ways it is his best role. Set in the Vienna of to-day, “Serenade” is an entirely pleasing comedy - drama which rarely twangs on the chord of melancholia. In fact, it is an airy, fanciful love-lyric as one might expect from the title. Playing opposite the star, most appropriately, is Menjou’s wife, Kathleen Carver, to whom he was recently ma.rried'in Paris. The cablegrams recorded the reception the pair received the other day. Kathleen appears as “Gretchen,” the inspiration of the musician, who until then had never been able to put “heart” into his songs. The problem propounded by the film is “should artists marry?” and the answer is a very satisfactory one. Gretchen sets out to help her husband by staying away from the theatre where her husband’s successful operetta is being produced. Then one night she goes to find that Adolphe is bewitched by the premiere danseuse. A tell-tale lipstick gives grounds for a wife’s suspicion and -the musician suddenly finds that he is alone in the world. “Honeymoon Hate” is the amusing tale of a woman’s journey half round the world to find the man she loves. He turns out to be an Italian prince who is also a shopkeeper and a professional guide. “Honeymoon Hate” develops through the unfortunate motto of the prince’s house, “We shall be obeyed.” Florence’s father is a manufacturer of steel, famous for • its resistance, and she adopts the trade-mark as her slogan. Set in lovely Venice, the picture glides along the canals in picturesque gondolas. The Reeent Operatic Orchestra plays a delightful programme, the overture being “Pique Lame” (Suppe), and Mr. Leslie V. Harw brings pleasant melody from the mighty Wurlitzer. “The Man Who Laughs,” on which Paul Leni has been working for the last three months, is now finished. The elaborate building, accurate costuming and all-star cast, headed by Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin, have resulted in the next most costly picture which Universal has ever undertaken, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” being the most expensive.