REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 February 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“THUNDER AFLOAT.” The story that wartime censorship kept quiet is now told for the first lime in “Thunder Afloat,” which is at present at the Regent Theatre. Melodrama that has never . been surpassed in sea thrills, plus three superb performances from Wallace Beery, Chester Morris and Virginia Grey, make “Thunder Afloat” one of the ace productions of the season. A story of the improvised sub-chaser fleet and its courageous, untrained men who met the U-boat menace oil the Atlantic coast in 1918, “Thunder Afloat” combines sea action even more exciting than that of “Captains Courageous,” with a stirring tale based on actual naval history and characterisations as authentic as the film’s backgrounds. As a tugboat captain who joins the navy after a U-boat has sunk his craft, Beery gives a portrayal that compares in all ways with the best of his previous hits, while Morris gives him support and Miss Grey proves the wisdom of her selection for this, her first important feminine lead, as Beery’s daughter. A spirited story of those little-known days of the World War when enemy submarines invaded American coastal waters and sank eightysix ships before an improvised fleet of wooden sub-chasers put an end to their campaign of frightfulness, “Thun-

der Afloat” brings Wallace Beery to the screen in a role which combines the most memorable feattires of some of his greatest hits and yet is completely new in dramatic characterisation. As Jon Thorson, untidy captain of a tugboat in a small New Enlgand seaport, who joins the United States Navy and wants to fight the war single-handee after a U-boat has sunk his beloved craft, Beery revels again in the comedy and heart-tugs of such ’ filmic milestones as “Min and Bill” and “Tugboat Annie,” in the fighting qualities of “The Champ” and the breath-taking thrills of “Hell Divers.” There is a strong supporting programme.