REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 December 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“EDISON THE MAN.” Marked by another sterling performance on the part of Spencer Tracy, “Edison, the Man,” will be finally shown tonight at the Regent Theatre. “GUNNER GEORGE.” Never before has the world been in such dire need of laughter—the kind of laughter which springs wholeheartedly from the antics of the character or characters presented on the screen. Today, more than ever, people on both sides of the Atlantic and in New Zealand look to the motion picture industry to take them away from the grim realisation of the present conflict. Dur-

ing the last war pictures were to a great extent in their infancy. The theatre was still the strongest force of entertainment, and yet from the crude attempts of that time, a film character became famous. The British soldier of that day speaks of Charlie Chaplin with a deep sense of gratitude. He not only provided a figure of fun at which disillusioned people could laugh; he not only created a fantasy world in which tired minds could escape; he became the most important psyychological factor in the morale of the army man. Today, another Englishman, in George Formby, has taken on the mantle of the inimitable Chaplin. His popularity with the fighting men is undoubted, as was proved when he recently undertook an entertainment itinerary of the military camps in England. And in “Gunner George,” his latest mirthquake which will be shown at the Regent Theatre tomorrow night, he is just as successful as a mirth-pro-voker as Chaplin was. The sure-fire hilarities of Formby are shrewdly interwoven into this story of the Secret Service and U-boat operations. The whole thing is genial nonsense, of course, but put over with such vigour that it is the ideal stimulant for the times. The featurettes include the latest Cinesound News, an all-colour classic, a Bathe Pictorial, and a most interesting study, “Men in Danger.” The plans are at Messrs Steele and Bull’s shop and the theatre.