“THE DRAG NET”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 559, 11 January 1929, Page 15

“THE DRAG NET”

REGENT DOUBLE PROGRAMME Imagine yourself a detective employed to track down and capture the members of a notorious gang of thieves. You are ambitious, but your wages permit of only the most modest self-advancement. Then a glowing offer is made. The gang will pay a huge sum of money, and pay regularly, for immunity from arrest. A woman will oiler her love. What would you do ? This was the problem presented at the Regent last evening. The onlookers found themselves intrigued in more than passing fashion, as will all who cast themselves into “The Drag Net” during the remainder of the week. A vigorous photoplay. with a virile star at the head of affairs—that is the Regent “headliner” presented for the-,-„o* i 4 „ • ' , eau Broadway” was a supportmg feature-length comedy-drama, ami an attractive group of two-reelers completed an excellent bill of fare. From the important point of view of the box office, “The Drag Net” should justify its title. It has all the elements of good drama, is well produced, cleverly edited, and adequately cast. George Bancroft is the star, and one of the few actors who have found it possible to cloak his villainous past in a stellar role. In many productions he has played the crook and brutal fighter. Now he is emerging as a popular leading male in “he-man” roles—a rival to Victor McLaglen and players of his ilk. His work is almost coarse in its realism, but tremendously effective. Two personalities are contrasted effectively in "The Drag Net.” There is the powerful figure of the leading man, portraying a successful detective who is assigned to “clean up” a gangsters’ stronghold. Beside him is a weaker but none the less enthusiastic worker, ably played by Leslie Fenton. In the end the detective is successful, but only after he has tasted the bitterness of defeat, the anguish of one who has been deceived into the belief that he has killed a comrade. Photographically the picture is excellent. The action is swift and logical, and the onlookers are led forward to an exciting climax, which keeps everyone on the edge of his seat. Then a little comedy, a little spice, and lots of delightful intrigue, all taking place under the winking lights of New York’s midnight playground. “Beau Broadway” is another of those delightful Lew Cody-Aileen Pringle productions made to entertain, to amuse, and then just—leave it at that. There are no thrills or dramatics in “Beau Broadway.” The onlookers simply sit back and enjoy to the fullest a series of sparkling situations, strung together on a thread of romance, and brightened with those cheerful misunderstandings and complications which are the bubbling stock-in-trade of the comedy-drama producer. The story tells of a young boxing promoter who alters his mode of life when he becomes the guardian of an orphan. Imagining that his ward is an infant, he prepares a nursery in his home, but she turns out to be a charming person of marriageable age, who falls in love with him. Jeffreys, once champion heavy-weight of the world, appears in the picture. A news review is the remaining picture. Mr. A. G. Frost leads the Regent Orchestra with typical skill, and the overture is “Light Cavalry” (Suppe), a colourful piece. The story of the Magdalen has always been one of fruitful interest in the arts. In literature and the drama of the stage and screen it has provided a subject which has absorbed the interest of tale spinners and of audiences in women of this or a kindred type down through the ages. In motion pictures almost all the noteworthy directors have sooner or later found the Magdalen theme exercising an irresistible fascination for them. And now, as the latest link in a memorable chain, comes the “Street Angel.” This Fox Film production has a story of conflicting Neapolitan standards. Janet Gaynor, co-featured with Charles ; Farrell, portrays the little street waif of Naples.