REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

‘’RICH MAN. POOR GIRL.” Romance and comedy are combined with uproarious results in “Rich Man. Poor Girl," featuring Robert Young, Lew Ayres and Ruth Hussey commencing at the Regent Theatre tonight. Young, a socialite millionaire in love with his secretary, played by Miss Hussey, is presented in another of those breezy, personable roles which earned him acclaim in “Married Before Breakfast,” and “I Met Him in Paris.” Lew Ayres in the part of Miss Hussey’s impetuous cousin, champion of the middle classes,, unquestionably hurls himself into Hollywood’s front rank of comedians with this delightful characterisation. Miss. Hussey, undertaking her first leading role, is an engaging and charming heroine. Young and Miss Hussey are in love, and wish to get married, but she fears the wide social gulf which separates them and insists that he meet her family. The folks at home, “Ma” Thayer, played by Sarah Padden, and “Pa” Thayer, played by Guy Kibbee, Frank, Don Castle, and the hot-headed cousin Henry, as portrayed by Ayres, are suspicious of the millionaire. Miss Hussey’s sister, Lana Turner, however, considers the the proposed marriage a v/indfall and one which shouldn’t be blown away. In order to impress the family with the seriousness of his intentions, Young moves into their tiny flat with them —and then the hilarity begins to bubble. “Rich Man, Poor Girl” is really excellent screenfare for every member of the family. • “CRIME -SCHOOL.” Sometimes amusing, sometimes tra-

gic, and always exciting. “Crime School,” the Warner Bros.’ picture showing at the Regent on Saturday, contains a powerful indictment of unthinking, brutal, methods of dealing with juvenile crime. Effectively utilising the talents of the six New York boys who became famous in.both stage and screen versions of “Dead End,” as well as such adult players as Humphrey Bogart and Gale Page, the latter a beautiful newcomer to the screen from radio, the new Warner picture makes a strong case for its basic thetne —that the old type of boys’ reformatory is in fact a “Crime School.” The newer methods of dealing with juvenile offenders—designed to prevent their developing into adult criminals are effectively contrasted with the old by basing the story on the determined fight made by an idealistic young official to introduce his ideas into a reformatory of the old type.