PICTURE FILMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 1, 12 October 1943, Page 5

PICTURE FILMS.

ST. JAMES THEATRE. Screening finally to-night at 8 p.m.— an unforgettable comedy-drama of a lovable family, “The Vanishing Virginian.” Excellent supports complete this programme. Commencing to-morrow a 8 p.m., and again on Thursday at 8 p.m. Told with a relentless honesty, given striking dramatic imagery in the direction of Mervyn Le Roy (the famous director, who has given you such unforgettable pictures as “Mrs Minniver” and Blossoms in the Dust”) Robert Taylor and Lana Turner, in “Johnny Eager.” Supports include the latest “Crime Doesn’t Pay.” The story running through. “Johnny Eager” gives Taylor the greatest dramatic opportunity of his career as Johnny Eager, ruthless killer, who knows no code except the rule of selfpreservation. Not until he has pinned a trumped-up murder on the only girl who has been able to reach beneath his cold-blooded exterior and find out what makes his heart work, does he make a momentary concession to the laws of human understanding, and then it is too late. Lana Turner, as the girl, fascinated by the ruthlessness of the gangster, refusing to believe her love cannot redeem him, surpasses anything she has done before. Not only does she seem to become increasing lovely in each picture, btit her work carries a dramatic conviction that makes her stand out as the most distinguished young actress the screen has produced in a number of years. The co-stars are given stiff competition in the portrayal of Van Heflin, whose portrait of a drunken henchman of Johnny Eager, whom life has brought to the lowest level but who retains the classical education of his youth, is one of the highlights of the film.