REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 May 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“THE AMBUSH.” Tonight’s programme will be headed by “The Ambush,” which features Gladys Swarthout, Lloyd Nolan, William Henry, William Frawley, Ernest Truex, and Polly Moran. It is a thrilling story of a boy and girl who are caught in the web of a ruthless manhunt. They are the innocent victims of a calm killer to whom a life means nothing. Killers, desperate for one last fling at freedom and willing to take any chance to get it are engaged in a crime against the law. Four ultra-modern bandits swoop down on a Californian Bank, surprise spectators and guards with a smoke screen and flee with their booty, leaving a truck as the only clue to their identity. Gladys Swarthout, the bank secretary, and Lloyd Nolan, a truck driver, become involved in a breathless succession of thrills and adventure before the gang is finally rounded up'in a gun-fight with the G-men. Police trace the bandits to a cabin. A note dropped by Nolan leads them to a loadhouse where the gang pauses. Tufts is killed in a fight with the law, the others escape with Nolan who is determined to protect Miss Swarthout. The bandits reach a barn where they have cached an airplane. They plan to shoot Miss Swarthout and Nolan before escaping in the plane, but he persuades them to use his cabin as a hideout, convinces them that the airplane will be overtaken. At the end of a week they are short of food and Nolan and Truex drive to town. Nolan steals obtrusively at one of the stores to draw pursuit. His theft is reported to two detectives who start on their trail. Then follows further exciting incidents. There is a strong supporting programme. Commencing on Saturday at 2.15 p.m. and 7.45 p.m., Frank Capra’s “Mr Smith Goes To Washington,” a really superb picture, will be shown.