REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 June 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

‘■DRAMATIC SCHOOL.” “Dramatic School,” the picture which will be shown tonight at the Regent Theatre, with Luise Rainer and Paulette Goddard in stellar roles, was literally a dramatic school for the sixteen girls and fourteen boys who make their bid for screen fame in the lavishly staged new production. Unfolding the life of a dramatic school and the training of its students from the moment they enter the classrooms in the morning to the hour of their departure at the close of the daily sessions, the action of the new picture afforded its players an actual dramatic school' training, a course rivalling that of the finest theatrical schools in America. The entire curriculum of a typical school is covered with the players instructed in eurythmics, gymnastics, dancing. fencing, pantomime, voice, dictation, history, and psychology of acting, and acting technique. Ralph Faulkner, former international fencing champion, trained the student actors in the elementals of fencing. Albertina Rasch supervised the dancing lessons, and every other study was placed in the hands of an expert in that particular field. For their example in acting technique the players of “Dramatic School” had the opportunity of studying the work of Luise Rainer, twice winner of the Motion Picture Academy Award. Incidentally Miss Rainer herself is a product of one of the finest dramatic theatres in Europe, having studied at the Luise Dumont Theatre prior to her subsequent tuition under the famous Max Reinhardt. Twenty-four major settings bring to life the backgrounds of a typical dramatic school the one in the picture being laid in Paris. Among the settings are classrooms, a little theatre, assembly and rehearsal rooms, ’ and a gymnasium. Other settings in the picture include the interiors of a factory, a night club, and the National Theatre of Paris. Established players in the cast comprise besides Luise Rainer and Paulette Goddard, Alan Marshal, Lana Turner, Genevieve Tobin, Henry Stephenson, and Gale Sondergaard. Short subjects include a Fitzpatrick Traveltalk, “Java Journey;” “Captain and the Kids,” cartoon, an excellent M.G.M. miniature musical and a newsreel.