AMUSEMENTS

Grey River Argus, 28 September 1949, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS

Opera House Now Showing: "Against the Wind.” Some of Britain’s most closelyguarded secrets are revealed for the first time in the new ealing production, “Against the Wind" now showing at the Opera House Theatre, with Jack Beatty, Jack Warner and Simone Signoret in the leading role.. Based on an idea by Lieut.-Colonel Elder Wills the film shows the training of saboteours, the methods employed and operations carried out by them. The setting of the story is of the Belgian resistance movement and reveals six characters brought together in 1943 in one of the strangest and least known enterprises of the war. A Catholic priest from Canada, a young Scot with a passion for explosives, a lovely Belgian girl anxious to forget her past ,an elderly Jew rescued from a concentration camp, a patriot who volunteered for h ; s country to turn traitor, and the heed of the Brit'sh secret force responsible for sabotage. Sabotage was their job. sabotage organised from London in the form of macabre jokes, as ingenious as they were injurious to the enemy.

Regent Theatre Now showing “The Shop At Sly Corner with Oscar Homolka, Derek Farr, Muriel Pavlow.

Another outstanding British picture comes along to prove that Hollywood is no longer the sole purveyor of really fine entertainment, in the British Lion release of “The Shop at Sly Corner,” George King produc-

tion based on the long-running stage success by Edward Percy. Oscar Homolka, Derek Farr, Muriel Pavlow, Manning Whiley, Kathleen Harrison, and Kenneth Griffith are among those with leading roles, though the large cast contains other equally well-known “names” of Bri-

tish stages and screen. Little short of a personal triumph for Mr Homolka, whose brilliant technique has seldom been seen to better advantage, the picture is a skilfully woven tale of blackmail and murder. It's one of those in which to divulge the ending ’s to spoil the entertainment, so suffice it to say that the story builds up to a tremendous climax which will surely have you gripping the edge of your seat. Miss Pavlow, whose real life romance with Derek Farr made the headlines soon after the picture was completed is delightful as th etalent ed daughter of Mr Homolka—to all intents and purposes a benevolent old shopkeeper, but in reality an international “fence.” As the sneaking, blackmailing shop assistant who learns his secret, Kenneth Griffith is so brilliant as to cause on e positively to hate him by the time the picture has run half-way. But then Ihe whole cast, expertly chosen by pro-ducer-director George King, merits the highest praise. Here is a picture that will hold you engrossed from first to last. As a play, it has been seen and enjoyed by thousands —it is leven greater entertainment as a film.