REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES.” Dedicated to thousands of slum boys of the great cities who next week or next year must choose between crime and honesty, "Angels With Dirty I Faces,” a powerful human document dramatically enacted bv James Cag- | ney, Pat O'Brien, the "Dead End" Kids. Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft, will come to the screen of the Regent Theatre tonight. It tells the story of two boys—ordinary dirty-faced kids, brought up in the teeming slums of a great city—who took opposite .roads —one to the shadowy realms of the underworld, the other to priesthood’s serene light. The conflict between these two characters, with the lives of thousands of boys as the grim stake, is strong dramatic fare and carries with it a deep social message. The film starts out with the two. boys committing a petty crime, then running for freedom, with police in hot pursuit. A split second —a single stride —and one of them was made into a killer. He returns to the slums to get his vengeance on the world —a big-shot killer leading hundreds of kids into a life like his. The boy who ran a little faster made a vow to save a million other dirty-faced kids from the fate that was almost his. Ordained as a priest, he returns to the slums to battle against the forces of crime for the lives of the dirty-faced angels who never had a chance to go straight. "Angels With Dirty Faces” is the story of two of those kids —and the men they grew up to be. Powerfully produced with stark realism, it is destined to be a great and memorable experience for all those who see it. A superb array of varied featurettes completes the programme. The box plans are at Nimmo’s and the theatre.