MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 955, 24 April 1930, Page 17

MAJESTIC

“SEVEN DAYS’ LEAVE” i I “Seven Lays* Leave,” a talkie based ' on Sir James Barrie’s famous play, “Tho Old Lady Shows Her Medals,” conies to the Majestic Theatre today. Mrs. Dowey (Beryl Mercer), an old Scottish scrub woman, frets because everyone in London, except herself, is doing something for England in the war. Her three friends, also elderly charwomen, boast of their sons at tho front; she has none. But in a newspaper, she reads of the heroic exploits of a private in the Canadian “Black Watch,” a regiment of Highlanders. His name is the same as hers. She forthwith “adopts” him, wears a “Black Watch” badge, and boasts of her son. Tho “Kiltie” (Gary Cooper), soon afterward, is given leave, and comes to London. Sick of tho war, rebellious in spirit, he is ready to desert. A T.M.C.A. worker meets him, and tells him that he knows his mother. Dowey, an orphan, is amazed, but silently allows himself to be taken to Mrs. Dowey’s quaint, one-room home. Alone with her, Dowey rails at her deception. She timidly defends herself: “I wanted it to be my war, too." Persuaded to stay to tea, he soon is won by the old lady's pathetic sweetness, and by the loneliness that has driven her to her daring course of action. She pleads with him to make her home his during his stay. He grudgingly accepts, but informs her she is on probation as his “mother.” That night, she is the delighted envy of her three old cronies, when he takes her on a spree. At home, after a fine dinner and the theatre, she fondly tucks him into bed. The next day their round of pleasure is inter- , rupted. In a public house, two English sailors chide Dowey about his kilts. A fist fight ensues, and spreads to tho street. Military police break it up. Angry, Dowey curses the army and his uniform, but his “mother” finally pulls him out of the row. The next day, her faith in him sends him back to the front. Before he goes, he awkwardly “proposes” to her. She sobs with joy as she agrees to be his “mother," and as he tells her that his decision is recorded in the records. A particularly fine supporting programme lias been selected for presentation this evening.