REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1941, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“THE AMAZING MR. WILLIAMS.” Another very enjoyable entertainment is promised to patrons of the Regent Theatre this evening with the Columbia comedy drama, “The Amazing Mr. Williams,” leading the bill. Strong in comedy situations, “The Amazing Mr. Williams” is actually a series of disconnected events, held together by the fact that Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell are the chief participants in all the incidents. The detective is, of course, Kenny Williams —the amazing Mr. Williams, who can solve a case in less time than it takes to tell about it. The only one who any way compares with him is his fiancee, who herself takes to detecting, after being "stood up” practically at the altar. None of the mysteries, though, are particularly ingenious, so that Mr. Williams would hardly seem clever at all, if Melvyn Douglas were not playing the role. But he does succeed in giving such an impression of quick wits and intelligence that his exploits take on a kind of veneer of credulity, even though the situations in which he is placed bear no possible relation to real life. Joan Blondell makes the most of opportunities in her role as a girl who leaves no stone unturned to make her fiance leave his job until she succumbs to the fascination of his kind of work. The climax, incidentally, is all Miss Biondell’s, and one that will send any audience out laughing. Humour is the purpose of this film, and humorous it is. Perhaps the best incident is when Douglas takes a convict out on an evening appointment with his fiancee and her room-mates, instead of delivering him to gaol. Edward S. Brophy, as might be expected, is the convict, and he contributes well to the general entertainment of the episode.