STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1941, Page 8

STATE THEATRE

“SO ENDS OUR NIGHT.” The brilliant drama, “So Ends Our Night,” will be finally shown tonight. “NEUTRAL PORT.” “Neutral Port,” which will be shown tomorrow night at the State Theatre with Will Fyffe excels himself as the prosy, pugnacious Captain Ferguson, always ready for any sly game which will give him a ship to replace his treasured tub. His efforts seemed to be doomed to failure, for whenever he captures a ship, and he does so more than once, the Nazis promptly torpedo him and he comes back to port disgruntled. The picture begins with the sinking of Captain Ferguson’s beloved ship the “Annie Louise” on her way to the neutral port of Esperanto on the first day of war. Enraged, _ the fiery old skipper goes to the British Consul in the port, brilliantly portrayed by Leslie Banks, and tells him that he believes in “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Bent on revenge he plans to capture the German vessel Scharndorf. Yvonne Arnaud shadows him in the guise of an amatory saloonkeeping widow intent on making him her fifth husband. They score in a piquant gaol scene in which the old sea dog tries to persuade her to change clothes to enable him to escape. As the Consul, Leslie Banks is the personification of British competence and resource. The love interest is well taken care of by Phyllis Calvert, as Bank’s daughter, and Hugh McDermott as a young Consular official who at first funks sabotaging the supply ship.