NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 592, 19 February 1929, Page 15

NEW REGENT

LAST DAYS OF “FOUR WALLS” John Gilbert is a sleek, swaggering and merciless underworld leader, whose gun is ever ready to play a tune of love or hatred. Joan Crawford is his girl: hard, bitter and luring him on with feminine wiles more deadly than any gun, until prison doors swing behind him. Vera Gordon is the mother, and Carmel Myers the other girl in “Four Walls,” It is called “Four Walls,” and will be shown for only two more days at the New Regent Theatre. The modern gang leader is no longer a lfcudmouted, burly ruffian, but a fashion-ably-dressed, soft-spoken individual who is far more ruthless than liis predecessor. John Gilbert invests this rolo with power and realism. He is deadly, menacing, quick to avenge insult, intolerant of suggestion or interference and he dominates every situation in true gang leader fashion. The second picture at the Regent, “The Main Event,” stars Vera Reynolds in a tender and human story of a fighter’s love for a girl who tried to trick him. Interesting supporting films are shown, and a most enjoyable musical interlude is provided by the famous grand opera singers, Russo and Bradford. They are heard in a number of solos and duets, most of them popular pieces from grand opera. Sympathetic musical accpmpanime | is provided throughout by the Regent Operatic Orchestra, under the baton of Mr. Maurice Guttridge. Intimate glimpses of life behind the scenes in a theatre are blended into Chaney’s latest screen sensation, “Laugh, Clown, Laugh,” which comes to the Regent on Thursday. The picture is one of the most pretentious Chaney productions in years. Chaney, as the clown, making his great sacrifice for the happiness of the I woman he loves, has a role which runs the entire gamut of acting. In the theatre scenes he is a comedian. ■ in grotesque antics, acrobatic tricks, and lilting laughs—then, in the dramatic scenes behind the curtain he plumbs the very depths of human misery. A notable cast surrounds the famous star, Loretta Young, newest “discovery’' of the screen, plays the heroine, and Nils Astlier, who scored in j “Sorrell and Son,” is the male juvenile lead. Elaborate reproductions of European theatres, in which entire vaudeville shows ranging from tightrope acts to trained elephants are seen, are spectacular details. Brenon, who directed the new picture, is famous for such productions as “Beau Geste” and “Sorrell and Son.”