Chorus Comedy

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 620, 23 March 1929, Page 25

Chorus Comedy

NEW ELINOR GLYN FILM

Clara Bow in “Three Week-Ends” AFTER a long silence, Elinor Glyn has once more taken up her pen on behalf of Paramount. The result is “Three Week-Ends,” a lively, spicy comedy coming to the Plaza and Tivoli. Clara Bow is the star. Her name was made by the Glyn production “It,” and her performance in her latest release is as good as ever.

“Three Week-Ends” is a comedy of chorus life set against a background of youthful romance and lovers’ intrigue. It is a worthy successor to those successful Paramount-Glyn-Bow specials, “It” and “Red Hair.” Clara Bow needs no introduction. At the end of 1928 she was adjudged J ——■ the most popular motion picture actress in America, and her position is still supreme. She is an actress a comedienne, and a very pretty girl, all rolled into one, and as befits a star of such box office power, she is given the best of screen vehicles. Therefore there need be no fear about “Three Week-Ends.” It is a rollicking colourful comedy, packed with new situations, mounted with lavish scenes and titled by one of the best caption writers in the business. Clara is supported by two men who have made their name in comedy in the last year. The first is Neil Hamilton, one of Paramount’s most popular actors; the second is Harrison Ford, who completed recently an excellent series of feature farce comedies. “Three Week-Ends” carries one into theatreland, where Clara, alias Gladys O’Brien, is dancing in a cabaret chorus. She meets James Gordon (Neil Hamilton), an insurance

agent, and the two fall in love after Gordon lias led her to understand he is a man of means.

Turner (Harrison Ford), an actor, invites Gladys to a party, but she is suspicious and brings with her the whole chorus. Gordon rescues her from Turner but loses his billet, whereupon Gladys “vamps” the insurance manager to regain her lover’s job. But another party is arranged at the actor’s home, and the excitements culminate in a fight between Turner and Gordon, who misunderstands the situation and denounces Clara. Finally the troubles of the pair are cleared up, and there comes the usual close-up. Clarence Badger directed “Three Week-Ends,” and thereby added materially to his reputation as a producer of comedy. The picture should prove one of the Plaza and Tivoli’s greatest drawing cards.