REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 August 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“JAMAICA INN.” Charles Laughton, remembered for his immortal Bligh in “Mutiny on the Bounty,” for the delightful Ruggles in “Ruggles of Red Gap” and many other brilliant roles in pictures, will be the star in “Jamaica Inn,” which will be shown tonightt. Charles Laughton is one of the most remarkable men of the films today. In the character of Sir Humphrey Pengallan, squire of Cornwall, entertainer of the nobility, yet withal the evil genius behind the nefarious doings of the gangs of wreckers who haunted the nearby coast, Laughton adds another great characterisation to his list. Here is a story of a lonely inn on the bleak Cornwall moors, not far from the coast. Its name was evil, coaches whisked past and no man knew what horrors its ever-closed shutters hid; Yet it was to “Jamaica Inn” that Mary Yellan went when her mother died, to join her aunt and the man her aunt married, Joss Merlyn. The evils of the inn. its dread secret, and the gatherings of the wreckers, she was all too soon io learn, to make her way in frenzied haste to Sir Humphrey for his protection. Little did I she know he was the evil genius who guided her uncle Joss and his band of cut-throats. Charles Laughton has the colourful, sinister part of the squire, the man behind the gang whose being is known only to Joss Merlyn. His strain of insanity gives room for expansive characterisation, and he makes an enormously engrossing role of it. In support of Charles Laughton are Maureen O’Hara, beautiful newcomer to the screen, Leslie Banks, Emlyn Williams, Marie Ney and others. The supporting subjects are exceptionally interesting, the Air Mail News containing thrilling shots of the Dun-i kirk evacuation, the Cinesound Gazette, the latest happenings in Australia and a splendid Paramount headliner gives items of interest and beauty from all over the world. The plans are at Nimmo’s and the theatre.