AMUSEMENTS

Grey River Argus, 18 February 1943, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS

Opera House Finally to-night: “Sweetheart of the Fleet” and “World Premiere.” Next attraction (commences to-mor-row Friday): “Pacific Blackout” and “Mr. Bug Goes to Town.” “PACIFIC BLACKOUT.” Robert Preston and Martha O’Driscoll have an exciting time together in Paramount’s timely and fast-pac-ed melodrama, “Pacific Blackout,” commencing at the Opera House tomorrow (Friday). The film’s swift action takes place in a large American West Coast city during a practice blackout and air raid alert. Preston, a young inventor, is sentenced to death for a murder committed by a ring of international spies. Martha helps him to escape and, while sirens wail and "bombers roar overhead, she helps him run down the killers and capture the enemy agents. Despite its thrills and grim background the picture is loaded with comedy. Philip Merival e plays the spy leader. Others in the cast are Eva Gabor, Louis Jean Heydt, Thurston Hall. Mary Treen, J. Edward Bromberg and Spencer Charters. “MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN.” Quick, Henry, put away that Flit “Mr. Bug Goes To Town” is coming to town, and we don’t want to take any chances of his getting away from us. . “Mr. Bug Goes To Town ’ is the new Paramount Technicolor featurelength cartoon created by the Fleischer Studios and it commences at the Opera House to-morrow (Friday) The cast of characters includes some of the friendliest and funniest insect people imaginable. There are Honey Bee, the heroine; Hoppity, the grasshopper hero; C. Bagley Beetle, the villain; Swat, the Fly, and Smack, the Mosquito, plus many other brilliantly conceived, humanized insects all of whom will so enchant you that you will probably never again have the heart' to use insecticide. The story tells of the. fight for life of a community of these little people against the passions of one of their own race and the encroachments of the human race upon their tiny 'speck of land. Gay music, including five song hits, and beautiful Technicolor are said to heighten the enjoyment of this thoroughly delightful film. Regent Theatre Finally To-night: “The Jungle Princess.” Commencing To-morf’ow: “The Sea Wolf” with an all-star cast.

The power and fury of the raging sea surged from Jack London’s pen as h e wrote his most famous novel, “The Sea Wolf” and the new screen version of the story, which has translated power and fury into the most dramatic and thrilling screen entertainment of the year, starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield. The film version of the world-famous novel by Jack London was produced by Warner Bros. Among the players aboard ship are Ida Lupino, Frank Lacteen, Howard de Silva, Gene Lockhardt, Barry Fitzgerald, Alexander Knox, Wilfred Lucas, Louis Mason, David Bruce. “The Sea Wolf”, published in 1903, was an immediate best-seller, and has continued to hold its popularity with successive generations of readers, long after many later best-sel-lers have been forgotten. It is the powerful story of “Wolf” Larsen, the epitome of all the .fighting, killing, roistering and vicious men of the sea fleet. The men who sailed with him on “The Ghost” seldom lived to relate their experiences. The story of “The Sea Wolf” is mainly the story of the captain of “The Ghost”, “Wolf” Larsen, played by Edward G. Robinson. Larsen is a man in whose heart there .is neither softness nor mercy. His hand is against every man, and he _ expects every man’s to be against him. Once aboard his ship, there is no escape. A strange assortment of characters passengers on his ill-fated vessel, and each has a dramatic in-

fluence on the story that unfolds. As would be expected of a film directed by Mike Curtiz, “The Sea Wolf” is a succession of movingepisodes, with physical action dominant. There are 47. fights in the picture. All are marked by primal brutality. Murder is a passing incident. “Wolf” Larsen ruthlessly controls everything, but Destiny. No man can ever subdue his will to conquer, but a creeping physical infirmity puts him at the mercy of a weakling in the brilliantly dramatic finale of the book —and of the picture. “The Sea Wolf” is a picture of what Jack London wrote, as he wrote it. According to reports the film “Sea Wolf” is one of the year’s greatest triumphs of acting genius and directional skill. Robinson is said to have his greatest role as Larsen. Ida Lupino brings just the right degree of poignancy to the role of the girl, and John Garfield is superb as the young sailor fighting desperate odds. Michael Curtiz, supreme master of the outdoor action film, has directed “The Sea Wolf” with rare dramatic force. Fraught with drama, suspense and full-blood-ed action, "The Sea Wolf” is one sea story you’ll never forget. Also screening an excellent associate programme.