PARAMOUNT THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 139, 8 March 1941, Page 15

PARAMOUNT THEATRE

Any seeker after thrills who visits the Paramount Theatre this week should not be disappointed, for both films presented are full of tense situations, mystery and excitement. - In “The House of the Arrow,” another Hanaud story, Kenneth Kent portrays the grandiose French detective who. always manages to trail the criminal Diana Churchill, the leading figure, and Peter Murray-Hill the youthful hero. The house concerned is the Dijon, and belongs to a wealthy widow, who appears to be suffering from hallucinations and who keeps her niece, Betty Harlow, and her companion, Anne Upton,” under close and often almost vicious supervision. One iporning the widow is-found'dead, ‘- and’ investigation proves that she has died through an injection of curare —a poison which, till recently, was not traceable after injection. Betty is placed under semi-arrest, for her uncle accuses her of the murder, and she immediately cables her English lawyer to come to defend her. This he does, and meets the famous Hanaud of the Surete in Paris. Together these men go to Dijon, and, though they pursue different clues, at last unmask the actual criminal.

The associate film, “They Drive bj’ Night,” though also concerned with murder, is cast in an entirely different mould. It is less of a straightforward mystery story and has more of the macabre in its make-up. There are some excellentlydone character studies.

Emlyn Williams plays “Shorty,” _ a young Cockney who, ih the opening scenes, is released from Brixton jail after 18 months’ imprisonment. A man, Allen, convicted of murdering a girl, is hanged on the stroke of nine, just as “Shorty” leaves. Going back to his old haunts, “Shorty” visits a girl he once knew. He finds to his horror that she has been murdered. With the thought of Allen’s fate in his mind, he loses his head and runs away. Immediately there is a hue and cry after him, and he tries to get out of London. On his way north on one of the great transport lorries, he meets a girl from a dance hall who, alone of all his former friends, believes him when he says he is not guilty. She helps him, and together they finally trace the actual killer.

This is anything but an “ordinary” picture. The outdoor sceens are “shot” mostly in rain, which lends to the atmosphere of fear and horror which is experienced by the beleaguered “Shorty.” The introduction of Mr. Hoover, a peculiar old gentleman, with a psychological interest in crime, does not lessen the suspense.