STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 October 1939, Page 2

STATE THEATRE

"THE ARIZONA WILDCAT.” Jane Withers brings her own brand of law and disorder to the West in "The Arizona Wildcat,” to be shown tonight at the State Theatre. This is just about the best Jane Withers picture the popular young star has ever made. Here is the type of picture Jane does best and the kind of role her fans are eager to see her in. What with gold missing from the mine, the stagecoach stuck up, a whole town shot up and the sheriff in cahoots with the crooks, there is enough action for a dozen pictures —and Jane’s right in the middle of it. Leo Carrillo, one of the screen’s great character actors, plays a prominent part in the film, and gets as much enjoyment out of his role! as the audience does. He is seen as Jane’s adopted daddy and between them they make things hot for the bandits operating in the town. The story opens with a stage coach, drawn by two runaway horses, racing up the main street of Mineville, Arizona. When it is brought to a halt, the bul-let-riddled bodies of the driver and two guards offer mute testimony that the coach has been held up and robbed of the gold it was carrying. The sheriff (Henry Wilcoxon) rides off with his deputies in search of the criminals. From that point on there is plenty of excitement. Jane and Carrillo get a hunch that the sheriff himself is in cahoots with the bandits, and of course they take it upon themselves to track down the culprits and restore law and order to the town. In addition to brilliant performances by Jane Withers and Leo Carrillo, an excellent supporting cast, featuring Pauline Moore, William Henry, Henry Wilcoxon, Dougi las Fowley and Etienne Girardot, contributes splendid performances. The other feature is “The Edge of the World.” The entire photography was taken on the island of Foula, on the edge of the Shetland Isles. The film unit and cast lived there for six months. For three weeks during severe storms they were cut off from the mainland, and for ten days when their wireless station had been swept away by a gale, they were without any communication. This is probably the only entertainment film, opposed to documentary, which has been made without the help of artificial lighting and studios, and apart from a few professional actors the main cast was drawn from the hundred inhabitants. The main players are Nial MacGinnis, Belle Chrystall, Eric Berry and John Laurie. Michael Powell was responsible for the direction.