REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1939, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“SERGEANT MADDEN.” A gripping story of the New York police and of a father who must put a halt to the criminal activities of his own son, “Sergeant Madden,” will be finally screened at the Regent Theatre tonight. It presents Wallace Beery in his most masterful characterisation to date. As Sergeant Madden, thirty-year veteran of the force, soft-hearted, plodding and idealistic, Beery epitomizes the finest traits of “New York’s Finest.” Alan Curtis as the son who tries a short-cut to promotion and finally is forced to turn bank-robber, plays an excellent role to the hilt. In a difficult role as the Irish waif whom Beery adopts and who marries Curtis, Laraine Johnson comes through with flying colours in this, her first important featured part. Tom Brown, as the adopted son whose loyalties are torn both ways, shows a fine conception of another colourful characterisation. An excellent array of short featurettes complete the programme. “FOUR DAUGHTERS.’’ What happens when four devoted sisters fall in. love with, the same man? “Four Daughters,” the Warner Bros, picture based on a Fannie Hurst story, which will open at the Regent Theatre on < Saturday night, takes that as its theme and develops it into a richly human story. The four daughters of an elderly musician all give their hearts unanimously to a captivating young man who comes to live at their home, and he in turn is enraptured by the youngest of them. And it is this girl, scarcely more than a child, who bravely sacrifices her own happiness because of a mistaken notion that by so doing she will insure the happiness of her oldest sister. More by chance than by design, the tangle into which the lives of the four girls is thrown is eventually unravelled so that each achieves the destiny that makes her happiest. The cast of “Four Daughters” is of unusual interest in itself. In the first place, three of the four sisters are played by three girls who are sisters in actuality, Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane—the fourth sister being enacted by Gale Page. In the second place, two young actors of emphatic promise are both given their first big film roles in this picture. They are Jeffrey Lynn, and John Garfield, considered the best young character actor developed on the New York stage since Cagney, Muni and Robinson came to Hollywood. The substantial base of tried and proven acting ability is provided by such reliable troupers as Claude Rains, May Robson, Frank McHugh and Dick Foran.