ENTERTAINMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1942, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

OPERA HOUSE—To-night: “Flying Blind’ ’and “Doomed Caravan.’’

Paced at dive-bomber speed, “Flying Blind,” now showing at the Opera House, brings a high-ex-plosive mixture of thrills, romance laughs and suspense to the screen. Arlen is chief pilot and Miss Parker is hostess of a “Honeymoon Airline,’’ ferrying elopers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, when a gang of fifth columnists, led by Asther and Pryor, steal a vital defence secret and threaten to wreck a United States Army bomber. How Arlen and Miss Parker, while in a plunging airliner flying through a terrific storm, manage co thwart the foreign agents and save the bomber is the story. “DOOMED~CARAVAN” William Boyd is again cast as. Cassidy in “Doomed Caravan,” a stirring and thrilling story of old wagon freighting days on the plains, also showing at the Opera House. It tells of a courageous woman, played by Minna Gombell, owner of a thriving freighting line, who is determined to stay, in business despite the depredations of a gang of bandits hired by a rival outfit to drive her out. “Lucky” Jenkins is played by Russell Hayden, and “California,” portrayed by the veteran screen comic, Andy Clyde.

REGENT THEATRE—To-night: “The Firefly.” Each recent year has brought to the screen a finer type of musical picture, but these new musicals would have a hard time surpassing “The Firefly,” with Jeanette MacDonald which is showing for a return season at the Regent Theatre. The facts require no superlatives when your cast is composed of such stars as Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones and Warren William. Lavish scenes present the sweeping drama of old Spain in the period when Napoleon was defeated by Wellington at Vittoria. Hundreds of costumed extras appear in the spectacular scenes. Seven thrilling musical numbers, five of them from the original Friml operetta, feature the picture. Two others were written especially for the film. Miss MacDonald dances beautifully and sings “Love is Like a Firefly,” “He Who Loves and Runs Away,” and “When a Maid Comes Knocking at Your Heart,” in perfect voice. Allan Jones sings “A Woman’s Kiss” and “The Donkey’s Serenade,” and they sing in duet “Giannina Mia” and “Sympathy” with charming effect. To all who care for music and true artistry this is a picture you can see again and again.