NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 384, 19 June 1928, Page 15

NEW REGENT

DOUBLE FEATURE BILL The programme at present being shown at the New Regent Theatre is a remarkably strong one, as it includes two big features, the first starring Richard Dix and the second starring Es ther Ralston. The Richard Dix picture is entitled “The Gay Defender.” Down in sunny California the natives were being oppressed and ill-treated. One, however, stood out, and decided to fight for his people and for law and order. Although a price was put on his head, this modern Robin Hood finally succeeded in righting the state of affairs. Richard Dix plays the colourful role of the bandit, Joaquin Murietta. The’story is laid about 1850. when native Californians were desperately fighting the rush of unscrupulous goldseekers; when the strumming of guitars was interrupted by pistol shots; when women lifted crinoline skirts to run to' safety. The second attraction on the programme is entitled “Love and Learn,” and stars Miss Ralston in a really enjoyable comedy. It tells of young Miss Nancy Blake whose parents parents threaten to divorce each other. Nancy, however, tries to make them forget themselves in anxiety over her and sets out to create all the trouble she can. In the haste to elude and lead the police, she crashes through the election campaign stand of Judge Anthony Cowles. It is not till she reaches her home that she finds that the judge is occupying the back seat, much the worse for wear. As a “dry” candidate, he had been destroying liquor on his platform. To the seemingly unconscious man, she gives the contents of one of the bottles she finds in the car. Seeing the effect of her arrival on her father she takes the now drunk judge into the house. Just as she has properly shocked her parents, and the judge is leaving, the police arrive and arrest her. She is to appear at Judge Cowle’s court. She is overjoyed. Her parents distraught. The judge is thankful that none of them know him, and that his face has been covered with blood and a bandage as the result of the accident. The next day the judge dismisses the case. Nancy promptly grabs a revolver from one of the policemen and the judge is left no alternative but to send her to jail for ten days. Nancy is satisfied. Arthur G. Frost, the conductor of the Regent Operatic Orchestra, also plays the Wurlitzer organ, and is accorded a very cordial reception in his dual role. On the Wurlitzer he plays, “Somewhere a Voice Is Calling” and “Bonnie Scotland,” while the orchestra plays as an overture “Slavonic Rhapsody,” by Friedman. Scenes from the Kingsford-Smith flight across the Pacific, showing the landing at Brisbane and Sydney, are also being shown.

Glamorous Spain is shown at the height of its picturesque beauty* in Fox Films’ “Loves of Carmen,” directed by Raoul Walsh, with Victor McLaglen, Dolores Del Rio and Don Alvarado in the principal roles. Aside from the great dramatic quality of the narrative the background is one of unusual colour. The Spanish town on a fete day presents a most curious and interesting spectacle The extraordinary animation strongly with the habitual calm of the place. The whole city is brilliantly attired in its fiesta garb. Striped hangings droop from every window. Peasants crowd about in dense masses, some on foot, others on their ponies or mules, covered with graceful mantles in place of saddles. In “Loves of Carmen,” Raoul Walsh has obtained the genuine fiesta spirit. It is interesting to know that in all pf the big scenes, actors and actresses of Spanish descent were used.