ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 119, 18 April 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “MISSING EVIDENCE.” ' Tn Now Universal’s “Missing Evidence,” which screens to-day at the Mayfair c Theatre, the manner in which counter- , feit sweepstakes ticket racketeers operate g affords the basis for a timely and thrilling a action drama. Almost everyone lias enter- j tained the Utopian dream of winning a j vast fortune. Looking at the pictures of t the bewildered hut unhappy face of a por- j ter in Sim, Francisco, a painter in Chicago, ] or a seamstress in New York who has < 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 Gov- - eminent that 20,000,000 dollars leave the . country each year through the sale of sweepstakes coupons. “Missing Evi dcnce” deals with an effort to smash a nation-wide syndicate engaged in this racket. Preston Foster portrays a G-Mam 1 reno liorvey is seen as a pretty cigar; stand attendant who helps him after a j tragedy makes her realise she has umvittingly been an accomplice of the gang- | sters. _ I The bravery of mer. who give their lives that others may live is brought to the screen in Columbia’s ‘‘Coast Guard,” hai.ed by Hollywood as one of the most thrilling and dramatic records • ever to be, screened. The story of tho “Coast Guard. ’ the new film, screens lit the Mayfair Theatre to-day, with Randolph boot 1 ., Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy and Walter Connolly featured. The picturo revea.s the heroic saga of the Coast Guard. The activities of'the Service are clearly shown; the cutters patrolling tho iceberg lades 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,” Umvorsal’s 12-chapter mystery serial playing to-day at the Mayfair Theatre with Bela i Lugosi, Robert Kent, Dorothy Arnold and; Regis Toomcy in the leading roles. | I * i REGENT THEATRE “DESTRY RIDES AGAIN.” f As a laughing, singing, loving bar-room ■ entertainer in a town of the Old A est, 1 Miss Dietrich plays opposite lanky James : Stewart, one of the screen’s most male 1 stars, who has the role of the shy young 1 deputy-sheriff in “Destry Rides Again, " which screens at the Regent to-day 1 Miss Dietrich sees in the character a siriiil—--3 arity to the one she portrayed in “The 5 Blue Angel,” the film which first lifted her ( ' to stardom. “Ever since then I have wanted 1 to do another such role but until now J ve 3 never had the opportunity,” Miss Dietrich ‘ says. “The first day I began work m 3 ‘Destry Rides Again,’ I knew I had the 3 story I’d been looking for. Tt. was fun do* 3 ing ’it. the exciting action and the singing. ' Joe Pasternak, producer of “Destry Rides 3 Again,” knew Miss Dietrich wanted to 1 play such a role, but the star herself had 3 despaired of finding a suitable story and 3 had gone to Europe with plans to make ■ two pictures in Paris. While there she rc--1 ceived a trans-Atlantic call from Pas- ’ ternak, who described the story to her, and 3 won her enthusiastic approval. She took 1 the next boat back to New York, and Hollywood. Incidentally, “Destry Rides 3 Again” is Miss Dietrich's picture 1 since she became an American citizen. l 1 STATE THEATRE, j “QUICK MILLIONS.” The map still shows plenty of spaces where the hand of the Jones Family has never set foot and so long as this is so, i moviegoers can rely on excellent, enter- - tainment- from this nomadic screen family. Their latest jaunt is to the Grand . Canyon, where they have inherited a gold _ mine, in their new 20th Century-])ox production, “Quick Millions,” which opens ‘ to-day at the Stale Theatre. Good all [ round fun, the Joseph’ Hoffman-Stanley 3 Rauh screen plays brings the Joneses back 5 to Marryvillo from their recent trip to Hollywood only to send them packing again when they receive word of the inheritance. So it’s off to the West again, and what with Injun ghosts,, fake geologists, bullets, bandits, and gun-fights, they strike it rich in their richest vein of fun. “Quick Millions,” the title, would seem lo refer rather to the laughs in the film than what tho Joneses make from their mine, for it costs them Icn for every dollar they take out. There are a million laughs from every Jones, and the family includes Jed Frouty, Spring Byington. Ken Howell, George Ernest, June Carlson, ]) lorencc Roberts and Billy Mahan. Also featured in the film arc Eddie Collins, popu'ar little comedian, Robert; Shaw and Helen Ericson. The latter two supply tho romance, of the story, whose excitement and fun begins when Lawyer Collins takes over the Joneses' interests and acts as prospecting guide for the family. At last, tho miraculous Scnja Jleiiie appears- in a picture as American as an ice cream cone! A dazzling modern girl, having a modern good time on a co-ed campus, wearing swank clothes, keeping swell dates —that’s Sonja as you'll see her in “My Lucky Star,” her new hit for 20th Century-Fox, which, opens to-day at the Slate Theatre. A credit to Darryl I''. Zantick and to everyone who had a hand in its making, ibis is a picture that winks and glitters with fun and romance • and tho magic of stars hanging low on a still frosty night. Tr lias songs and laughter that seem to sail through the air like ski jumpers and Sonja's magnificent “Alice in Wonderland’’ ice ballot —climaxing what is hv all odds her happiest screen story—is a thing to make you cry out in wonder and delight.