REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 June 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“YOUNG DR. KILDARE.” The crowded audience at the Regent Theatre on Saturday night had presented to them a brilliant picture in “Young Dr. Kildare.” Those present were delighted with this outstanding triumph of the screen. It was a picture that had a great human appeal. Drama and romance in the life of a struggling junior physician are entertainingly blended in “Young Doctor Kildare.” If a talking picture can so strongly impress audiences that they leave the theatre remembering the characters of the story rather than the actors who portray them, then that picture deserves the highest praise. It is safe to prophesy that those who see “Young Dr. Kildare,’’will have impressed on their memories the personality of a remarkable man, a great doctor who has risen to the heights of his profession in spite of being a cripple confined to an armchair. Lew Ayres as the eager young Doctor Kildare is human and natural in a role which he plays with artistic restraint. Lynne Carver handles the romantic lead with technique that indicates beyond question her early rise to stardom. Lionel Barrymore, as Dr. Gillespie, who knows that his days are numbered, gives a performance that is entirely in accord with the Barrymore tradition. Jo Ann .Sayers, who enacts the tragic role of a rich man’s daughter, weary of life and all that it means, reveals a rare talent with remarkable depth of understanding. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, with firstrate performances by Nat Pendleton, Samuel S. Hinds, Emma Dunn, Walter Kingsford, and Truman Bradley. The story of “Young Doctor Kildare” presents an ambitious interne in a metropolitan hospital in love with his boyhood sweetheart back home. He wins the interest and friendship of a veteran surgeon, portrayed brilliantly by Barrymore. The grim drama that exists in the emergency ward of a great hospital, the tense lives of those who work there, and the tender romance of the struggling young interne, mingle effectively in this novel story of modern life. It is a picture which should not be missed.

The supporting programme contains “Football Romeo” (Our Gang comedy), “Mental Poise” (Robert Benchley comedy), a splendid travelogue in colour, “Guatemala,” an entertaining musical, and the latest overseas newsreels.