ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 42, 18 January 1938, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE. “IT HAPPENED OUT WEST.” Explosive excitement and fast action paced with comedy and tender romance, with Harold Bell'Wright’s startling new hero making tho wild West wilder when ho tackles' a gun-toting hand from the badlands, marks the noted outdoors author’s gayest and grandest ..story, “It Happened Out West,” 20th Century-Fox release, featuring Paul Kelly and Judith Allen, which screens to-night at the State Theatre. Introducing a new Wright leading man who bails from the East, and who out-bluffs and out-roughs the 'toughest Westerners who menace bis romance, the film was directed by Howard Brethert.on and produced by Sol Lesser. This pair have brought many of tho beloved writer's stories to virile life on the screen. Because she is squandering her legacy in an ill-advised attempt to turn her ranch into a dairy farm, the trust company guarding Judith Allen’s inheritance sends Paid Kelly, its special trouble-shooter, to dissuade her. Posing as a milk expert, be gets a job on her ranch, as docs it is partner, Johnny Arthur. Aware that the ranch contains rich silver deposits, Judith's foreman, Leroy Mason, is trying t.o wrest control from her without her knowledge. When a ranch band learns bis secret of the presence of the ore, Mason murders him. A-t this critical juncture bo also succeeds in turning Judith away from Paul, and she dismisses hint from tho ranch. Before leaving Paul accidentally learns of Mason’s evil motives, and in a hair-raising, thrill-packed punching climax succeeds in foiling bis efforts, jailing his band, and winning Judith. “YOU CAN’T BUY LUCK.” “You Can’t Buy Luck,” a race track drama climaxing in a murder mystery, also screens at the State Theatre to-night. Onslow Stevens, stage and screen star, portrays a superstitious racehorse owner who believes that tho more he helps others financially, tho more luck will his horses have on the track. Helen Mack has the leading feminine role. Even defeat of his favourite horse in a big derby fails to convince him that his theory is superficial, .and it finally takes a tragedy that places bis life in jeopardy to awaken him to the narrowness of bis vision and to the realisation that lie should he charitable for the actual good it does rather than for his own selfish purposes. With a background of the Kentucky Derby and tho Prcakness, the story deals with the power which superstition sometimes wields over otherwise rational men and women. A mysterious murder resulting in the arrest and conviction of an innocent man illustrates how easy it is to find a person guilty of a heinous crime on nothing but circumstantial evidence. METEOR THEATRE. “THE WHITE ANGEL.” What is heralded as one of the outstanding productions of tho screen. “The White Angel,” a First National picture featuring the life story of the immortal nurse, Florence Nightingale, is showing at thc'Metcor Theatre to-night, with Kay Francis in the stellar role. The picture paints in fiery drama the fight of Florence Nightingale, a wealthy English society girl, to remedy conditions in army field' hospitals and the neglect of dying soldiers. All the tragedy and pathos of the battlefield is pictured in. the film, as well as the beauty of tho life of sacrifices of Florence Nightingale. and her specially picked nurses. The film is set in the. middle of the last century during the Crimean War, and the most 'thrilling scenes take place at the base hospital at Sentaria, a small Turkish town on the north shore of the Bosphorus, and at Balaclava, where the immortal six hundred of tho Light Brigade rode - “into tho jaws of death.’ No more powerful nor romantic theme could have been selected by First National than that of the life of the groat nurse who gave 'her all to humanity by revolutionising the hospitalisation system of the world, and whoso efforts laid the groundwork for tlio establishment of the Red Cross. The picture is enacted by an exceptionally 'talented .oast of principals with more than 1009 persons in extra roles. lan Hunter, famous on the London stage and in films, and Donald Woods have the two leading masculine roles. Others in the cast include actors famous in America and abroad both on the stage and screen, among them being Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, Henry O’Neill- Billy Maucli, Charles Crokcr-King, Phoebe Foster, George Curz.on, Georgia Caine, Ara Gerald, Halltwell Hobbes, Eily Malycn. Lillian Cooper and Egon Brcehcr. William Dietetic directed the production from the screen play by Mordaunt Shairp. KOSY THEATRE. “THE LAST TRAIN FROM MADRID.” Now showing finally at the Kosy Theatre “The , Last T'™" 1 from Madrid,” Paramount’s thrilling war picture of war-torn Spain. With the recapture of a, salient through which the Madrid-Valencia railroad line passes, the Madrid Government announces that a train will bb permitted to leave the beleaguered capital for Valencia—and safety. Only those who have important reasons to leave are to be given passes The issuing of the passes is detailed to Captain Alvarez. He makes out a pass for bis sweetheart, , Carmelita, a patrician beauty. Then, learning that his best friend, Eduardo De Soto, is to be released from prison, where he. is held as a political prisoner, he arranges for him to escape from Madrid. As soon as he is free De Soto goes to the girl he loves—■ Carmelita! Alvarez soon learns of the love between Carmelita and De Soto, but decides to wait until all three are on the train to ask her to name the man of her choice. Returning; to his office ho is arrested for having permitted De Soto to escape. Madrid, meanwhile, is in turmoil. Air raids and bombardments threaten. In the melee of souls seeking escape is young Juan Sanchez, a deserter sick of the horror around him. He meets Helena ,a girl of the streets, and they fall in love. Dexter, an American newspaperman, meets Marie Ferrar, a member of the Women’s Battalion. They, too, fall in love. De Soto chances to meet an old flame, a baroness, who has arrange to flee to Paris from Madrid with a gigolo, Balk. She urges De Soto to fleo to Paris with her, promising him Balk’s pass. De Soto accepts. Balk is murdered by the baroness. Alvarez manages to escape, locates De Soto and, gives him a pass. He asks his friend .to take Carmelita to the train and that he will join them later. Train time arrives. There is confusion and panic at the station. Suddenly the soldiery arrives to arrest Alvarez for treason, the baroness for murder, and De Soto for desertion. Determined to sacrifice himself so that the girl hb loves can find happiness with another, Alvarez forces his way into the office of the military commander of the town. The supporting picture is “Sophie Lang Goes AVest.” “SOPHIE LANG GOES AVEST.”

When an international jewel thief goes on to take in wealthy Hollywood, plenty can happen, and plenty does 1 Gertrude Michael comes back as the notorious Sophie Lang in Paramount’s new adven-ture-romance, “Sophie Lang Goes West,” :also showing finally at the Kosy Theatre.