STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 October 1941, Page 8

STATE THEATRE

“THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY.” In life Edgar Wallace was frequently accused of employing a team of “ghost writers” to put his thrillers down on paper. In death —and he has been dead nearly 10 years —he has been proved one of the greatest writers of mystery fiction the world has known. His books continue to be adapted for the stage, the screen and the radio, and one of his best stories, “The Case of the Frightened Lady,” will be shown tonight at the State Theatre. No one wants his fun spoiled by reading the plot of a mystery film in advance. It is enough to say that this new Edgar Wallace film concerns a series of murders in an English country mansion. The atmosphere and most of the cast are as English as an evening at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, not the least distinguished member of the cast being Penelope Dudley Ward, star of a strange film called “Moscow Nights” and much later the actress who took the part of the hysterical girl in ‘The Citadel.” She does full justice to her role in “The Case of the Frightened Lady.” The supporting picture, ‘Youth Will be served,” is probably Jane Withers’s best picture today and is full of comedy and heart appealing scenes. Delightfully entertaining from start to finish, “Youth Will be Served” has a strong featured cast which includes Jane Darewell, Robert Conway, Elyse Knox, Joe Brown Junr., John Qualen and Charles Holland.