NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 888, 4 February 1930, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“SO THIS IS COLLEGE” Snake dances around a blazing pile of old boxes, gates, furniture, doorways and other combustible material, a warm reception to the “frosh,” a romance along the Willow Path, and a rousing football game are some of the interesting phases treated by Sam Wood in his new all-talking, singing and dancing collegiate production, “So This Is College.” The Metro-Gol<j-wyn-Mayer comedy drama is now being shown to big houses at the Regent Theatre. The college picture was filmed on the campus of the University of Southern California, the first university to be used as a locale for films. Thousands of students offered their services in the picture as extras to give it a realistic atmosphere . “So This Is College” outlines the life of a student from the moment he steps off the train to the day he says goodbye to Alms.. Mater. The foibles of scholastic and fraternity life are amusingly developed and will give many a fond parent an eye-opener as to what son Johnny is laughing at when he is supposed to be studying. Sam Wood, director, used a real college campus for many of his outdoor sound locations and the football ground in the final scenes is jammed with 100,000 cheering spectators. Sally Starr, Wood’s new screen “find,” makes her debut in “So This Is College” and the cast includes Elliott Nugent and Robert Montgomery, who have become instant favourites with local auidiences. Cliff Edwards, better known as “Ukulele Ike,” Max Davidson, Phyllis Crane and Dorothy Dehn are also included in the cast. The Regent’s programme also includes a number of entertaining supporting items. There are musical selections by the Regent syncopators orchestra, solos on the Wurlitzer organ by Ewart Lyne, dancing by the girls known as “The Dancing Dolls” and finally a Pathe soLind and colour production. Huntley Gordon, who bears the title of “the screen’s most married man,” lives up to his reputation in Paramount's “The Marriage Playground.” Ho is married three times in the pro-duction-M:wice to his present wife, Lilyan Tashman, and once to his exwife, Kay Francis. “The Marriage Playground,” which was adapted from Edith Wharton’s “The Children,” cofeatures Mary Brian and Fredric March.