STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 April 1940, Page 2

STATE THEATRE

‘THE HOUSEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER.' Joan Bennett, who has become even more alluring as a dark-tressed glamour girl, is cast in a light comedy role as the heroine of Hal Roach's new screen romance, “The Housekeeper's Daughter,” showing at the State Theatre through United Artists release. Miss Bennett is co-starred with Adolphe Menjou in the new production, and their supporting cast reads like a galaxy of Hollywood’s best known celebrities. Heading this group are handsome John Hubbard, one of the screen’s newest discoveries, who gets his first'big chance in “The Housekeeper’s Daughter” as Miss Bennett’s heart interest; Peggy Wood, who plays the role of Miss Bennett’s mother, the comedy housekeeper in the wealthy Randall family; Victor Mature, in the role of Joan’s ex-boy friend; George E. Stone, portraying a pathetically incurable homicide; Donald Meek, cast as the managing editor of a metropolitan daily; Lilian Bond, who appears briefly as a famed Broadway butterfly; and William Gargan in the role of a screwy news photographer. Other well knowns in the cast include John Hyams, Leila Mclntyre, Luis Alberni, Rosina Galli, Tom Dugan, Marc Lawrence and Gene Morgan. Miss Bennett appears as a modern-day sophisticate who causes collective flutterings in the hearts of live gentlemen, while Menjou portrays an ace newspaperman whose reputation is dependent on a series of accomplishments. Menjou, who has a system based on comic antics and hilarious pursuits, sets himself romantically involved with Peggy Wood and forgets to solve the great murder crime in the picture. The story of “The Housekeeper’s Daughter” concerns the tpad happenings which take place in the swanky home of the socially prominent Randalls when the scion of the family falls in love with alluring Hilda, the housekeeper’s daughter, and becomes involved in the mysterious murder of Gladys Fontaine, the Broadway actress. Robert Randall, played by John Hubbard almost single-handed breaks open the crime. But not before his fashionable house is overrun by a mob of gangsters and newspapermen. With romance and crime marching side by side, a hilarious climax is provided in a big fireworks scene —when a gang of underworld hoodlums, who invade the house where Joan Bennett is staying, is put to flight by Adolphe Menjou with the aid of a barrage of fireworks.