ENTERTAINMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 February 1947, Page 10

ENTERTAINMENTS

OPERA HOUSE—Finally to-night: “Dillinger” and “Pistol Packin’ Mama.” Commencing to-mor-row: "Conflict,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Alexis Smith. A “perfect crime” whose very perfection leads to the murderer’s eventual undoing makes an exciting theme for “Conflict,” commencing at the Opera House to-morrow with a three-star cast headed by Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, and Sydney Greenstreet. The film recounts the curious case of one, Richard Mason, who murders his wife Kathryn because of his persistent love for Kathryn’s younger sister Evelyn. Actually Richard Mason accomplishes the “perfect crime.” A lesser man than he would no doubt sigh with relief at a job well done and be content. But Mason is thoughtful, profound, and —above all—an egotist. So carefully does he tell his story about his wife’s “disappearance” to the assembled police that his good friend, Dr. Mark (Greenstreet), also present, immediately discovers an important flaw in the elaborately contrived explanation. The remainder of Conflict” becomes a gripping, suspensetul battle of wits—between the psychiatrist, who has at his disposal every resource of psychiatric science—and the murderer equipped at the outset only with extreme self-assurance. How Mason is gradually forced into ■an untenable position of doubt and distrust and how, eventually, he is made to reveal his guilt under pressure of unbearable mental conflict, makes for an evening’s entertainment.

REGENT THEATRE— Finally tonight: “Miss Susie Stagle s, with Veronica Lake, Sonny Tufts. Joan Caufield. Commencing tomorrow: "Fanny by Gaslight, starring James Mason, Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger, Wilfred Lawson.

“Fanny by Gaslight” is a film which has everything. It is a bold chronicle of mid-Victorian society, excellently told, and enriched with detail.: of human lives. It stars Phyllis Calvert, who plays tne heroine —illegitimate daughter o a mid-Victorian Cabinet Minister. Her foster-father runs a shady night club where women sell their charms. Stewart Granger, the hero, plays a young politician who runs away with the heroine to Paris and lives with her without the blessings of the Church. The villain is one oi the truest type played by James Mason—he lives with many women, including the Cabinet Minister’s wife. Yet, beneath all this sordidness runs like a melody the love story of this Fanny a victim of rather cruel circumstances. A round of applause may be handed to Margaretta Scott, who plays the unfaithful wife of the Cabinet Minister.