THE REGENT.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 June 1938, Page 2

THE REGENT.

‘“THE BRIDE WORE RED.” The outstanding feature at the Regent tonight will be “The Bride Wore Red,” in which Joan Crawford will take the leading role. Joan Crawford unquestionably was a happy choice for the starring role and she has two excellent leading men in Franchot Tone and Robert Young. The Cinderella story of a poor beautiful girl who acquired luxury for a fleeting time and then became rich in love, has been directed with the delicate feminine influence of Dorothy Arzner. Hollywood’s only woman director. The cast includes Lynne Carver, Reginald Owen, Billie Burke, George Zucco and Dickie Moore. There is an excellent array of shorts. “LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA.” One of the greatest claims to fame possessed by the Republic of France is that it was the birthplace and the homeland of Emile Zola, the immortal novelist. His name is to France what Shakespeare’s is to England. And now, for the first time, Zola reaches the films. With Paul Muni in the name part, “The Life of Emile Zola,” an immense production by Warner Bros., comes to the screen of the Regent Theatre on Friday at 7.45 o’clock. Zola is seen as a struggling young writer, sometimes obliged to pawn even his shirt for bread. Then he meets the girl of the streets, “Nana” (played by Erin O’Brien-Moore) whose life he depicts in a novel that earns him enormous sums and lifts him to international fame. But most of the story has to do with Zola’s courageous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, the army officer who was framed on a false charge of selling secrets to Germany. Paul Muni’s portrayal of Emile Zola is a magnificent piece of work. Captain Dreyfus is splendidly played by Joseph Schildkraut. Others of note in the cast are Gale Sondergaard as Mme. Dreyfus, Gloria Holden as Mme. Zola, Henry O’Neill, Louis Calhern, Vladimir Sokoloff, Morris Carnovsky and Donald Crisp. “The Life of Emile Zola” is a thrilling, absorbing Story.