ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 117, 16 April 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

KOSY THEATRE. "PENITENTIARY.” A prison slorv of unusual promise, ' olumbia's “Penitent inrv” is scheduled to Slow to-day at the Rosy Thcalie. This is the dramatic talc of a politically ambitious Harden who finds that life inside a .State penitentiary goes deeper than mere individual desires. Walter Connolly, .John I toward, Jean Parker and Jlobort Pnrrat play the leading roles in iho picture, while Marc Lawrence, Dick Curtis, Ann Dcran anil Arthur Ifolji are seen in lesser parts. Connolly has lately bocn scon in “Nothing Sacred”: Howard has been playing in the “Bulldog Drummond” piclures, and Miss Parker lias record I v been seen in “Life Begins with Love.” The story concerns William Jordan, who is stmt to prison by a district attorney- aiming for the governor’s mansion. Jordan accidentally killed the son of the Stale’s most influential citizen because of an insult to a girl. So Thomas ■ Mathews scuds Jordan to t|ic penitentiary. Six yours later, Mathews is appointed warden of the prison, another stcri towards ihe governorship. His daughter, Elizabeth, goes along. In prison, broken in spirit and in health, Mathews finds Jordan, the boy lie sent away. A chain of grim circumstances in which there arc a murder, an attempted prison break, and a romance between Jordan and the warden’s daughter, brings Mathews face 1o face with the most dramatic crisis of his life. John Brnhin directed “Penitentiary.” Cheers of the crowd, thrilling exploits by college athletes, youthful romance and plenty of campus fun arc some of -the features in Columbia’s “All American Sweetheart,” novel college picture which shows at the Rosy Theatre to-day. REGENT THEATRE “DESTKY RIDES AGAIN.” As a laughing, singing, loving bar-room entertainer in a town of the Old West, Miss Dietrich plays opposite lanky James Stewart. one of t.he screen’s most male stars, who has the role of the shy young deputy-sheriff in “Destry Rides Again,” which screens at the Regent 10-day. Miss Dietrich sees in the character a similarity to the one she portrayed in “The Blue Angel,” the film which first lifted her to stardom, “Ever since then I have wanted to do another such role but until now I’ve never had the opportunity.” Miss Dietrich says. “The first day I began work in ‘Dostrv Rides Again,’ f knew I had the story I’d been looking for. It was furi doing it. the exciting action and the singing.” Joe Pasternak, producer of “Dcstrv Rides Again,” knew Miss Dietrich wanted to play such a role, but the star herself had despaired of finding a suitable story and had gone to Europe with plans to make two pictures in Paris. While there she received a trans-Atlantic call from Pasternak, who described tbe story to her, and won her enthusiastic approval. She took the next boat hack to New York, and Hollywood. Incidentally. “Destry Rides Again” is Miss Dietrich’s first picture since she became an American citizen. MAYFAIR THEATRE. ‘ -MISSING EVIDENCE.” Tn New Universal’? “Missing Evidence,” which screens to-day at the Mayfair Theatre, the manner in which counterfeit sweepstakes ticket racketeers operate affords the basis for a timely and thrilling action drama. Almost everyone has entertained the Utopian dream of winning a vast fortune. Looking at the pictures of the bewildered but unhappy face of a porter in Sim Francisco, a painter in Chicago; or a seamstress in New York who lias suddenly acquired thousands of dollars on a winning sweepstakes ticket inspires the iiope that some day others, too, might hold a lucky coupon. As a result, it has been estimated by the United States Government that 20.000,000 dollars leave the country each year through the sale of sweepstakes coupons. “Missing Evi deuce’ deals with an effort to smash a nation-wide syndicate engaged in this racket. Preston Foster portrays a G-Man. Irene Ilervey is seen as a pretty cigar stand attendant who helps him after a tragedy makes her realise she lias unwittingly been an accomplice of the gangsters. The bravery of iner, who give their lives that others may live ’is brought to the screen in Columbia's ‘.‘Coast Guard.” hailed by Hollywood as one of the most thrilling and dramatic records ever to be screened. The story of the “Coast Guard.” the new film, screens at the Mayfair Theatre’ to-day. with Randolph Scott, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy and Walter Connolly featured. The picture reveals the heroic saga of the Coast Guard. The activities of the Service are clearly shown : the cutters patrolling the iceberg lanes ot the North Atlantic or guarding seals from the depredations of poachers; aircraft wing over little-frequented shorelines and great ambulance ’planes take seriously injured men from ships at sea. A runaway ’plane crashes in flames in “Invisible Terror,” the fourth thrilling episode of “The Phantom Creeps,” Universal’s 12-chapter mystery serial playing to-day at the Mayfair Theatre with Bela Lugosi, Robert Kent, Dorothy Arnold and Regis Toomcy in the leading roles.