ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 302, 19 November 1938, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “ALCATRAZ ISLAND.” Everybody, even here, has heard of “Alcatraz Island,” that rather smallish bit of rock which is washed by the chill cross-currents of San Francisco Bay. But few persons apart from San Francisco residents have ever even seen the island itself, and almost nobody has seen the insido of the prison situated on the rock. The picturo is called “Alcatraz Island,” and its leading players are John Lite], Dick Purcell, Gordon Oliver, Mary Maguire and Ann Sheridan. The tale has to do with a racketeer —played by Litel —who is, in his way, fairly decent. He’ll take all the money he can get but He won’t eountenanoo murder. Because of this latter tenet, he is framed by underworld associates and sent to Loavenworth, a minor goal, on an income tax evasion conviction. Hero '“he’s framed again, made to appear like an incorrigible, and sent to the Big Rock. “Alcatraz Island” is not altogether a prison story. It would be too drab it if were. Gat Brady (Litel) has a daughter whom he has kept in private school before his arrest, and who knows nothing about his means of livelihood. The yarn concerns itself with how the girl ' (Mary Maguire) falls in love with tho . District Attorney (Gordon Oliver) who has sent Gat away, and with how —after still another framing, this time on a murder charge—Mary and Gordon rally to his rescue at his trial for life. “Alcatraz Island” is afcomplete novelty as a movie, and has a smashing climax which straightens everything out in a logical manner. William Mc-Gann directed tne picture from a story by Crane Wilbur. Among other notables in the cast are Veadimir, Sokoloff, Ben Weldon, Addison Richards, George E. Stone, Peggy Bates and Ellen Clancy. The supporting programme is excellent.

REGENT THEATRE. “DAD COMES TO TOWN.” Bert Bailey, tho original “Dad” of “On Our Selection” and now featured in “Dad anti Dave Come to Town,” is making a personal tour of New Zealand and will appear in Palmerston North to-night at tlie Regent Theatre and for the whole week twice daily at 2 and 8 p.m., where “Dad and Dave Come to Town” is to bo screened. His personality is as refreshing as a, southerly breeze and in his creation of Australia’s national character, “Dad,” ho reflects his own honesty, dry humour, and broad outlook on life.

A top hat, morning coat and faintly checked trousers have transformed Bert Bailey into a very 1938 version of “Dad” in Cincsound’s riotous comedy, “Dari and Dave Come to Town,” but the indomitable. Rudd spirit is still there. For nearly thirty years Bert Bailey has interpreted the famous Australian character, and the numerous attacks in the past few years have failed to convince this great old trouper that “Dad” is not typical of the Australian farmer. “It is all very well for a city dweller to pass these comments,” he says. “How many of them have toured Australia visiting every country town and village ? . . . I have. I’ve spent a lifetime studying tho small farmer. Ho knows me —and I’m proud to say I know him. His splendid courage, tenacity and houmour are attributes upon which I have built my characterisation. His isolation, and in spite of the fact that I have been told that tho modern farmer is actively in touch these ■ days with the outside world, I still say, his isolation has made him the quaint yet lovable character that has been broadened by Steele Rudd. Wireless ha.s helped to bring tho Australian farmer in touch with the city. I admit that, but there arc still thousands of country people who cannot afford a wireless. ‘Dad’ is modelled on tho small farmer —not the squatter —who has his swimming pool and cocktail parties guaranteed to show city socialities a thing or two. In ‘Dad and Dave Come to Town’ we have modernised ‘Dad and Dave,” but audiences will find the humour of these characters is still typical. To avoid disappointment you are advised to reserve early. Box plans are at Collinson and Cunninghame’s, ’phone 7178.

KOSY THEATRE. “PRISON BREAK.” Virile Barton IMacLano heads the cast, with Glenda Farrell as his sweetheart in “Prison Break,” now showing at the Kcsy Theatre. MacLanc is cast as a tuna fisherman who assumes the burden of another’s guilt and is sentenced to prison. Later, he is paroled for his heroic part in suppressing a prison break. Outside the grey walls of the penitentiary he finds that society has seemingly combined against him in his efforts to find honest employment. The restriction of his parole prevents him from returning to his old profession; he cannot marry; he may not drive a car of any description. Starving and desperate, he is driven to break his parolo, and almost to theft. “DRAEGERMAN COURAGE.”

A thrilling drama of men’s courage in facing death to rescue ill-fated comrades is depicted in the Warner Bros. . production, “Dracgerman Courage,” the second attraction on the programme, with Jean Muir in the featured role. “Draegcrinan Courago” takes the audience down into the bowels of' the earth—and introduces them to plain men who show themselves great in their ability to meet disaster—and to other plain men, who toil with no thought of self when called upon to free their comrades from their living entombment, in a mine cave-in. The picture is stirring in tho extreme from the moment of the first fade-in to the last fade-out. In addition to its breath-taking action, the story carries a heart-warming romance in which a young girl battles at tho side of her sweetheart through long, dreary days and nights to rescue the victims, one of whom is her father, from the caved-in mine. The picture paints realistically the desperate courage of tho Draegcrmcn—a picked organised rescue crew named for Draegcr—the man who invented tho tools of their merciful trade.