REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 June 1941, Page 8

REGENT THEATRE

— — "NICE GIRL?’’ Deanna Durbin’s record-breaking musical .romance, “Nice Girl?” willj conclude its Masterton season tonight, it being impossible to obtain an extension of the ,season owing to heavy 'bookings elsewhere. “SPORTING BLOOD.” “Sporting Blood,” which will open tomorrow at the Regent Theatre for an engagement of three nights, is outwardly a thrilling horse race story, yet basically it is far more than merely the story of how an equine complex is overcome so that the horse can win the big race. With Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lewis Stone, William Gargan and Lynne Carver heading a capable cast, the story breezes along with a nicely handled pace. Of course, the pivot around which the story revolves is a racehorse one. However, it is merely the adhesion for the tale although it does provide some of the best action of the year, with a spine-tingling race, the burning of a barn and a trick by which a “back running” horse becomes a world; beater. The story basically is of a foot-loose young man who returns to his home town and finds that he is hated because his father once ran oil with the wife of Lewis Stone. He sets out to marry one of Stone's daughters for spite but really falls in love with Lynne Carver and is embittered when she jilts him. When he sees love in Maureen O’Sullivan’s eyes, he marries her purely for revenge but gets a shock into a realisation of real love. With his own lessons comes a loss of prejudice on the part of Stone. Young and Miss O’Sullivan make an excellent screen team. Young and Gargan also make a fine team, with Gargan doing some excellent comedy. Stone, forsaking Judge Hardy for a while, is excellent as a hard-bitten Southerner. Lynne Carver, among the screen's most beautiful girls, gets a real opportunity in this picture and comes through admirably. Splendid featurettes complete the programme.