ENTERTAINMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20910, 15 September 1939, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT PROGRAMMES THEATRE ROYAL Romance, intrigue, murder and hunt for buried treasure in a mysterious old castle move the action* of "Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police,” which brings John Howard, Heather Angel and a dozen other popular players to the screen. With Howard playing the dashing sleuth, whose marital plans are constantly interrupted by thefts, killings and worse, "Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police” shows what he does about it when a fabulous treasure is discovered buried under his own c-astlc. A story ef home life filled with laughs, riotous situations and human drama, is told in the comedy, “Boy Trouble.” The picture deals with the difficulties experienced by a typical modern family when it accidentally “acquires” a couple of sons and tries to lit them into the family pattern. STATE THEATRE Revealing some of the difficulties that beset cattlemen to-day, “Racketeers of the Range,” starring George O'.Brien, shows how rustlers utilise fast motor-trucks in plying their illicit trade, instead of the old-time system. In addition, the unscrupulous methods employed by certain packing companies in an endeavour to lower the price of cattle also are depicted in this exciting film, which gives an intimate glimpse into the cattle business as it exists to-day. There are four heroines in “Broadway Musketeers,” which, with a dramatic story, packed with comedy, romance and pathos, is first rate movie fare for everyone. The “Musketeers” of the title are Margaret Lindsay, Marie Wilson, Ann Sheridan, and Janet Chapman, a six-year-old trouper with a wistful grin. REGENT THEATRE “This Man is News” deals with a reporter who achieves notoriety as the result of a murder story he sends in to his paper before the actual crime is committed. As may be imagined, this produces uncomfortable consequences for him; but, fortunately, he is able to prove an alibi. In the end he is instrumental in bringing the criminals to justice. “HUCKLIEBIBRRY IFINN” Huckleberry Finn, son of “Pap” Finn, a drunken sot, is cared for by the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson, who love the boy, in “Huckleberry ’Finn,” to be screened to-morrow. They live in a small village on the Mississippi in the days before the Civil War. Jim, a slave owned by the widow, is a good friend o>f Huck. Huck plays hookey from school, smokes a pipe secretly, has bis own quaint philosophy. The father of the boy, knowing that the widow loves Huck, demands 800 dollars of her, threatening otherwise to take him away. Huck decides to run away, and the story works up to an exciting climax. CIVIC THEATRE The part that women have long since come to play in the field of aviation is the subject of the enthralling drama “Tailspin,” which will head the new programme to-day. Alice Faye has the leading part as a girl who leaves a position in a night club in order to enter for an air race for women, and gives a fine portrayal of a woman who does not allow minor scruples to interfere with her great ambition. The drama does not go smoothly on, however, and the story traces the whole of the triumphs and tragedies of this dangerous profession before the climax is reached. The film includes some of the most thrilling flying ever seen on the screen, with powerful racing planes, roaring, zooming and hurtling through space with danger on every turn, and courageous pilots, parachuting to safety from a plane, plunging, diving, crashing in flames. It is a screen story by Frank Wead, the man who wrote "Hell’s Divers,” “Dirigible,” and “Ceiling Zero.” ROXY THEATRE “Men With Wings” and “Three Blind Mice” will head the new programme to-night. “Men With Wings,” as its title implies, is a stirring avialion film, and with its thrilling incidents and interesting dialogue it holds the tense interest of the aiudience throughout. It is all in teolinieolour. with the result that the air scenes gain in beauty and

realism. A very strong east is engaged, including Fred Mac Murray, Ray Milland. Louise Campbell and Walter Abel. “Three Blind Mice” is a film of a totally different kind but equally entertaining, with its drama, eomedv and romance. Loretta Young and Joel MeCrea are very attractive in the romantic leads and good work is also done by Binnie Barnes, Stuart Erwin and others. The two films, with interesting supports, make well-contrasted entertainment.