ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 168, 15 June 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE. “ON THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE.” One of the most dramatic sequences in “On the Night of the Fire,” which shows to-day at the State - Theatre, shows the star Ralph Richardson walking down the dark, empty street in a windstorm, and entering the house of a man who has been trying to blackmail him. Dust is raised and swept into his face by tho wind. Old newspapers fly past him. In the distance, behind, him, the sky is lit up by a fire which is ravaging a section of the city. It is indeed the night of the lire—the night he chooses to kill the blackmailer. Henry Oscar plays the blackmailer who threatens to expose Richardson to the police for a theft lie has previously coVnmitteod. The theft amounted to AllOO 'and was the issue of a hum-drum existence and a discontented life. With this money ■he had hoped to give up his barber shop and start life afresh in a dreamed Utopia, but the gods decreed otherwise. A triumphant hour became a torment of agonised weeks culminating in a finale of life itself. Diana Wytiyard plays opposite Richardson. The brilliant featureltcs include the Battle of Narvik, showing dramatic shots actually taken in the battle waters off Norway, and showing the havoc wrought by British destroyers amongst the German Navy. REGENI THEATRE. “COME ON, GEORGE.” Here's good news for entertainment lovers. George Formbv’s new comedy, “Come On, George.” is - coming. Press reviewers are unanimous in their declaration that this is the funniest film even George has made, a real laugh tonic for those troublesome times. “Come On, George” is a horse-racing c-omedy, and George admits that lip has long been trying to persuade A.T.P. production executives to make such a film. This is explained by the fact that the world-popu-lar comedian was once apprenticed to a racing stable and still retains his great love for horses. Now the producer’s tip is “get set” on the favourite for a hearty laugh with “Conic On, George.” George Formby and Beryl (Mrs Formby) are still the hardest working pair in the entertainment world'. If anything, the coming of war has made this very popular Lancashire couple more busy than ever. When war was declared, they were in their favourite locality, Blackpool (they have a house “Berylenc” just outside the town), appearing in a 16=wcek engagement. After a temporary shut-down, the show resumed and when it had finished, George and Beryl began to concentrate on giving tho troops some free shows. A.T.P. have already begun work on a new Formby film, which shows George winning the U-boat war single-handed after landing in a neutral country and getting mixed up with a spy organisation by mistake. KOSY THEATRE. J “SOUTH .OF THE BORDER.” Gene Autry, world popular singing star of the saddle, who plays the leading role in “South of the Border,” screen version of the popular song success, has topped the popularity poll among Western: stars in England and America for the last 3 years, lie is a protege of the late Will Rogers and, perhaps, the greatest compliment he lias received is tho fact that in the American cow country in- Texas, Oklahoma. Wyoming and Arizona, where the natives know what a cowboy really is, Autry is No. 1 favourite with the folks' in these parte. ... What happens when four devoted sis'tors fall in love with the same inan? “Four Daughters,” the Warner Bros.’ picture based on a Fannie Hurst story; takes that as its theme and develops it- into a richly human story. The four daughters of an elderly musician all give their hearts unanimously to a captivating young man who comes to live at their home, and lie in turn is enraptured by the youngest of them. And it is this girl, scarcely more than a child, who bravely sacrifices her own happiness because of a mistaken notion that bv so doing she will ensure the happiness of her oldest sister. More by chance than by design, the tangle into which tho lives of the four girls is thrown is eventually unravelled so that each achieves tho destiny that makes her happiest.