REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 March 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

"THE ROAD TO RENO.” An enchanting glimpse of the world’s most popular grand opera is given in Universal’s "The Road to Reno,” which will be shown tonight at the Regent Theatre. Starring Randolph Scott and Hope Hampton, and featuring Glenda Farrell, Helen Broderick, Alan Marshall, and David Oliver, the film depicts in a gay manner the story of a temperamental grand opera diva who leaves for “the city of broken hearts” to obtain a divorce and goes through a series of tempestuous exploits which wind up with a happy ending in a Reno divorce court. The film opens with Miss Hampton, as “Linda Halliday,” grand opera star, making her farewell performance before going to Reno for the severance of her matrimonial knot. For this performance Miss Hampton, who has been singing opera both in America and abroad for the last few years, insisted chat she should sing a familiar excerpt from grand opera which everyone could enjoy. So she chose the famous Musette'waltz from the ppera, "La Bop' heme.” In addition tbythiS solitary op}eratic aria, Miss' Hampton sings threepopular songs after her exciting arrijval at the dude ranch near Reno, where much of the action takes place. . SATURDAY’S ATTRACTION. In “Blockheads,” the new comedy starring Laurel and Hardy, and coming to the Regent Theatre on Saturday, the comedians find themselves in a swank, modern apartment house. The dignity of the surroundings, however, offers no bar to their continuous merriment. In fact, the austerity of the backgrounds makes their famous gags all the more ludicrous, and the current comedy contains an abundance of side-splitting incidents. In addition to the active imaginations of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who can endow the most trivial of incidents with laugh-compelling qualities either in real life or before the camera, they have been assisted in the new venturd by a group of Hollywood’s best known comedy creators.