REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 January 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“THE HARDY’S RIDE HIGH.”

AN OUTSTANDING COMEDY. The packed house at the Regent Theatre on Saturday night had presented to them the most brilliant of all the brilliant comedies ever shown at the Regent Theatre, “The Hardy’s Ride High.” It is one long scream from the opening of the picture till the closing scene with a strong touch of human nature in it. Never before has a Regent audience laughed so much. An outstanding quality is the naturalness of’the acting and the fact that the

i Hardys conduct themselves in the ciri cumstances just as the average family | would; it is this which makes such an appeal to the audience. Successful primarily because of their human qualities, none of the five Hardy pictures which have gone before, had more of human nature in it. The Hardy family acquires riches. Every normal family has dreamed of wealth and what they would do with it. Not many have actually acquired it. The Hardys leave their little town of Carvel for a mansion in Detroit. Their charge account is unlimited and only 'the Hardy conscience is their guide. Lewis Stone, as always the philosophical Judge Hardy, keeps his feet

on the ground when the Hardys ride highest. So, too, does Fay Holden as Emily Hardy, the wife and mother. When the fortune eventually dissolves, her sole loot is an old-fashioned iron, frying pan which she has always wan-i ted. The Judge has a new silk hat! which she brought for him but which he doesn’t want and for which he has no use back in Carvel. A brilliant performance is provided by Mickey Rooney who gives his best portrayal to date. He is the young man-about-town in the true sense of the term and he is most amusing in the way he carries our his part. His antics provide endless opportunities for the audience to indulge in laughter. Sara Haden, as the maiden Aunt Milly, blooms with new glamour as she encounters a mid-dle-aged business man whose object, apparently, is matrimony. Her romance crashes the night he proposes an adventure in real estate —with her money and his real estate. The Hardys go to Detroit to claim a fortune left by an ancestor. They move into the estate and are greeted by a butler, impeccable in the person of Halliwell i Hobbes. Cecilia Parker, as Marian Hardy, immediately buys lavish gowns and charges them. Mickey is enamoured of a cabaret girl, portrayed by Virginia Grey. But when she permits him to call on her at her chromium apartment Mickey, terrified, turns and runs out. Judge Hardy delves into private papers and books to learn that he is not the legal heir. He may, if he chooses, destroy the evidence and keep the fortune. But he does not hesitate. The wealth is renounced and the Hardy family returns to Carvel, Mickey to resume where he left off with Polly’ Benedict, played by Ann Rutherford. Those who fail to see "The Hardy’s Ride High” will have missed the greatest laughter producing vehicle ever seen al the Regent Theatre.

It is a picture that will be talked about long after other comedies have been forgotten, and can bo recommended with the utmost confidence.' There is a particularly fine supporting programme. Especially good was the film dealing with the fate of girls who indulge in the crime of shoplifting, while the science picture was particularly interesting. The audioscopic picture, for which audioscopics were supplied free, created roars of laughter.