REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“IT’S A DATE.” An event in the film world is a new production by Deanna Durbin. “It’s a Date,” which opened on Saturday at the Regent Theatre is a charming picture in every way. The producer has again handled the young, adolescent star with judgment, balancing nicely her contributions as comedienne and as singer, and supporting her with sterling artists and a good story of human ambitions and heart-throbs. The result is a picture worthy of its five successful predecessors, and during the New Zealand season many thousands of admirers will greet “It’s a Date” and will renew their oath of fidelity to Deanna. On her sixth appearance the star has the role of a young stage singer who becomes rival with her mother (played by Kay Francis) for the same part in a musical play to be produced; the rivalry becomes still more intense when daughter and mother become centred upon the same man (played by Walter Fidgeon). But Deanna is not really in love with Pidgeon, and easily falls out of love again. After many adventures (including a trip to Hawaii) she and Mothei’ divide the prizes—Mother gets Pidgeon and Deanna gets the singing role in the play. She winds up the picture with a beautiful rendering of Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” after other triuphs like “Loch Lomond,” one of Musetta’s songs from “La Boheme,” and “Love is All.” The leading characters in the plot are stage people, but Deanna does not become “stagey.” She enters “sophisticated” circles, but does not become sophisticated herself. She retains her original appeal as a girl blessed with sweet naturalness, a sunny personality, a native gift of comedy, and a singing voice as fresh as her youth and as charming as her smile. What more can anyone want? The featurettes are excellent, including the Air Mail News containing marvellous shots of the Belgium crisis, a most interesting study of rare animals in all parts of the world and a thrilling air trip over Java’s great volcanoes.