ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 21, 22 December 1938, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE “WOMAN AGAINST WOMAN.” “Woman Against Woman” screens finally to-night and to-rnorrow. “THE CROWD ROARS.” “The Crowd Roars” will commence at the Regent Theatre at 10.30 p.m. on Friday and continue for an extended season of one week. As Tommy McCoy, the boy who fought his way from the slums to the heights, Robert Taylor presents the finest, most vigorous acting job he has ever essayed in “The Crowd Roars." Here is the answer to the plea for action in pictures, with Taylor putting ever ounce of energy and ability into his first prize-fight role. The picture is packed with thrills, warm romance, and gripping suspense. A cast of champions supports the star: Frank Morgan as his father, ex-vaudeville trouper; Edward Arnold as the gambler behind the scenes of the fight game; Maureen O’Sullivan as his daughter, and June Wyman as her school chum and rival for Taylor’s affections; William Gargan as the ex-light-hoavyweight champion killed in the ring by Taylor, hie former pupil; Lionel Stander as the star’s trainer; Nat Pendleton a 3 Arnold’s gambling rival; Isabel Jewell as Gargan’s wife; Gone Reynolds os Tommy McCoy as a boy. Every one makos a standout of his or her characterisation. Early reservations for all holiday sessions are strongly advised. Box plans are now open at Colliiisori anu Cunninghame’i, 'phono 717 b Be wise and be early 1 ROSY THEATRE. “BACK IN CIRCULATION.” “Back in Circulation,” showing at the Kosy Theatre to-morrow, is a Warner Bros, picturisation of the Cosmopolitan magazine story, “Angel Shooter,’ by Adela Rogers St. Johns, land starring Pat O’Brien and Joan Blondell, is an engrossing nowspaper drama, presenting a behind-the-scenes view of the ethics of news gathering and tho power of the press over lives and reputations. A spectacular train wreck provides a thrilling introduction to tho murder mystery elements of tho swiftly paced narrative that follows. The photo-play presents a new and exciting characterisation by Joan Blondcl, as a smart girl reporter who takes keen professional pride in her job. The story revolves around the death, under mysterious circumstances, of a millionaire. This becomes known, through an anonymous letter, to Pat O’Brien, editor of a metropolitan tabloid newspaper. Sensing sonsational nows, he assigns his star reporter to investigate. Amassing a damaging amount of circumstantial evidence, the widow of the seemingly murdered man, portrayed by Margaret Lindsay, is brought to trial. Refusing to enter any defence to the chargo, she is found guilty, chiefly on the strength of stories unearthed by the news sleuths, Amidst the melodramatic involvements of the murder trial, Joan Blondell, although her activities have been the moving influence in the persecution, becomes convinced of tho condemned woman’s innocence. Facing the woman she has practically sent to her doom, she oontrives to make her confess that her silence is shielding someone. In the clash between the two women, the underlying play for life and death is one of the dramatic highlights of the picture, and provides tho solution to the mystery. “PRAIRIE THUNDER.”

“Prairie Thudcr,” an exciting melodrama of the days when hostile Indians tried to prevent the white man from linking coast and coast with his railroads and telegraph lines, has the handsome Dick Foran as its hero. Those who have previewed tho picture proclaim it the best of all the many that Foran has turned out within the past two and a half years. He plays the part of a cavalryman whose assignment is to keep tho rails and the wires intact and aid the progress of civilisation across the wild places.