AT THE PICTURES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 20 October 1942, Page 4

AT THE PICTURES

Majestic, commencing to-morrow (Wed- ! nesdav): Laraine Day and Barry Nelson in “Yank on the Burma Road.” Actually the Burma Road element only pro- . vides the background for an action ’ romance story. It serves an admirable purpose, however, giving excellent atmosphere which is sharply realised in the picture. The performances are all good, par- ' ticularlv that of the leading man. a newcomer named Barry Nelson. Playing op- j posite Laraine Day in the role ot a New York cab driver. Nelson gives a vigorous j performance. Miss Day does her usual excellent job in the role of a renegade flyer's wife who talks her way into a ride on Nelson's caravan in order to join her husband in Chungking, where the husband is held prisoner by the Chinese. Nelson becomes leader of a fleet of trucks travelling the Burma Road, following his singlehanded capture of two killers in New York. Meeting Miss Day in Rangoon, he falls hard. The thrills of their trip come thick and fast. State, commencing Friday: “Sundown,” epic of frontier adventure, starring Gene ! Tierney. Bruce Cabot, George Sanders, Harry Carey. Sir Cedric Hardwicke and .Joseph Callcia. Against the stirring background of one of England’s furthest outposts in Africa a thriving new experience in ad enture is related. It is a tribute to the small bands of men who guard the outposts of the Empire and tells the story of six white men and one beautiful girl isolated in a lonely military outpost in the hinterlands of Britain's isolated Kenya Colony, in Central East Africa. The small group “of men” at the British Residency I who rule over several hundred thousand I savage natives are in constant danger of annihilation by the savage tribes, especi- j ally when the latter are supplied with firearms by enemy gun-runners. “Sun- j down" reveals the efforts of enemy agents to break Britain's hold on her strategic | strongholds in Africa. The mysterious ac- i tions of Zia. a beautiful half-caste daugh- J ter of a rich Arab trader, provide the storv with spirited romance. The picture ; is wholly unlike any other previously j filmed, with a setting that is well off the j beaten track. Regent, to-night 7.45: Barbara Stanwvck and John Boles in Goldwyn’s i achievement “Stella Dallas." with excellent supports. ' Stella Dallas" depicts the ' life of a beautiful and pleasure-starved mill girl, who after a brief romance marries Stephen Dallas, outside her social sphere. They soon discover they are mis- . mated. Their baby is born, and Stella's only redeeming quality seems to be her i love for her daughter Laurel. A conversation which Stella overhears brings realisation that she is standing in the way of her ; daughter’s happiness. The loyalty of j Laurel to her mother and her refusal to go with her father are poignant sequences But the mother is determined to sacrifice • herself How she finally turns her child from her ri.a deeply mown.: situation,