PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 47, 25 February 1939, Page 11

PLAZA THEATRE

"THE COWBOY’ AND THE I.A DY” The best comedy offering to be seen here for some time is undoubtedly “The Cowboy and the Lady,” now showing at the Plaza Theatre. Gary Cooper is at the top of the form which brought “Mr. Deeds Goes to , Town” and “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife” into so much favour with audiences the world over. In “The Cowboy and the Lady” he is cast in a role which is eminently suited to his talents, for, apart from being one of the comparatively few Western screen heroes who really can ride a horse, he has the real cowboy manner as a carry-over from his pre-acting days. Playing opposite him is Merle Oberon, who, though she is justly famous in her

own right for film successes, is making her first appearance with Gary Cooper. She plays the part of the daughter of a wealthy politician who is seeking nomination for the Presidency. She has acted as hostess for her father’s allies ever since she left college, and has never been out with a man of her own age. When her sympathetic uncle (Harry Davenport) take her to a fashionable gambling house which is raided by the police, thus necessitating a quick flight to Palm Beach to avoid publicity, she accompanies two of her maids to a rodeo on her first “blind date.” The result is a whirlwind romance with the cowboy, which seems to oscillate between being thrown into a swimming pool and being reconciliated on the shelter deck of a Galveston-bound cattle boat. Top marks in the supporting cast go to Harry Davenport and to Patsy Kelly, who acts the part of a chambermaid. The supports are excellent.