PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 42, 20 February 1939, Page 9

PLAZA THEATRE

"MISS FIX-IT.” Still a mischievous child, but with an even more attractive personality and finer acting ability, Jane Withers returns to the screen in "Miss Fix-it,” which concludes to-day at the Plaza Theatre. Gloria Stuart and Henry Wilcoxon are others in a strong cast. A numbr of films have been produced in recent years wherein a great film star at Hollywood endeavours to stage a return to popularity after he has been labelled a “fallen star,” but a rather different note is struck in this picture, where a picture director (Henry Wilcoxon), not a star, endeavours to reestablish himself. Jane Withers is cast as this director's niece, and she decides (when she is at boarding school) that she will pack her bags and visit this great man. Little does she realise that he has lost his job, and when she arrives at his palatial home in Hollywood she finds an auction sale in progress. Gloria Stuart, formerly the director's secretary, and very much in love with the man, finds out who the girl is and takes her under her wing. Between them they decide to get the director back to his former position, and this they do, but only after considerable difficulty, heartbreaks, and laughter. Helen Wetsley is strongly cast.

"Prison Without Bars.” The vivid atmosphere of reality created in "Prison Without Bars, commencing to-morrow at the Plaza Theatre, is one notable feature of a picture that is in almost every way unusual. The whole action takes place within the confines of a women’s prison and, by contrasting older brutal methods of treatment with modern reformative methods, provides a striking case for prison reform. At the same time the picture is by no means solely an instru-

ment of propaganda. The rule that a good dramatic production must always be entertaining is not forgotten, and, against this prison background, the love story of two women—one a prisoner and the other the prison superintendent is told. The man is the prison doctor, and if the story has a hero he is it. The stars are Corinne Luchaire, Barry K. Barnes, andd Edna Best.