ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 137, 10 May 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

METEOR THEATRE. “TOWER OF LONDON.” In making “Tower of London,” which screens to-day at the Aloteor Theatre, the New Universal Studios liavo reinterpreted .English history. As any student of Shakespeare or history knows, Richard’s malevolent career-really did involve a good deal of calculated blood-letting. So .“'lower of London” has murders and tortures a-plenty. John Wyatt is hung up by the thumbs; branded with a red-hot iron; and stretched in the rack. The little princes plead pitifully for mercy; but arc des[>atched. Lord do A 7 ere is'beheaded. The Duke of Clarence k thrown into the malmsey-butt, llem-y VI is stabbed at his prayers. _ln addition, a horde of miscellaneous and anonymous enemies of the Crown squirms groaningly under various sorts of physical violence. Who ‘better than Boris Karlolf v to preside over, such a carnival of sadism ? Alord is tho name, the royal executioner the trade. Air loff trails a clubfoot and thirsts for gore, and he is ceaselessly on tho move. So is Basil Rathbonc’s portrayal of tho - coldly scheming Richard. This is a deliciously cynical character, a veritable Tartuffc of the British monarchy. Passages ‘ which do enkindle fugitive bits of drama are the drinking contest between Richard and tho Duke of Clarence, who is represented by Vincent Price, and the hypocritical exchanges of good-fellowship between Richard *nd Edward IV. Others in,tho east include Barbara O’Neil (Elizabeth), Nan Grey (Lady Alice Barton), John Sutton (John Wvatt), Leo G. Carroll (Hastings), Rose Hobart (Anno Neville), Alilcs Afander (Henry VI). and Ralph Forbes (the future King Henry VII). MAYFAIR THEATRE. "DEVIL ON WHEELS.” With Pat O’Brien, Arm Sheridan, Gale. Page, John Payne and comical Frank McHugh in the leading roles, “Devil on Wheels,” a drama of automobile racing produced by Warner Bros. Studio, is now showing at the Mayfair Theatre, flailed as one of . tho most exciting and romantic films ever brought to tho screen, “Devil on Wheels” forcefully depicts all the lure of the great American sport of car racing on world-famed tracks. The story concern, r the efforts of Pat O’Brien, champion no driver, to make John Payne, his ounger brother, continue with college ukl not follow’in his own footsteps. But John is bitten by the racing bug and his added romantic interest in Ann Sheridan, whom. Pat dislikes, causes a feud between the brothers, which comes to a climax in a race in which Put’s best friend Frank Alcllugh is 1 killed in a spectacular crash. The accident breaks Pat. Ho gives up racing and vanishes. Gale Page, Pat’s loyal girl friend, knowing if she is ever lo locate Pat it would be at the annual Alcmorial Day speed classic at Indianapolis, goes there. She finds him at the track, a seedy, broken figure. As they watch Payne compete with another driver for tho number one spot during the last laps of the race, there is a minor accident. John needs a relief driver, and before Pat realises what is happening,, Gale has mshec to the pits. In a dramatic, sensational sceno Pat .again conics into his own and is reconciled to liis brother.

“Wolf of Now York,” an exciting and thrilling mystery drama, with Edmund Lowe, Rose Hobart and James Steprie.-i----eson at the head of a large cast, will be the associate film.

Tho terrifying spectacle of a giant mechanical robot on the rampage and the fall of a burning building into tho sea, provido dramatic action in “Trapped in the Flames,” the eighth episode of “The Phantom - Creeps,” Universal’s 12-chap-ter serial which will be shown to-day at the Alayfair Theatre.