ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 229, 26 August 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

METEOR THEATRE. “THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS.” A thrill for movie fans! The studio that gave you “Dracula,” “Frankenstein” and “The Invisible Man” now gives you the greatest entertainment sensation cf all time! It’s “The Invisible Man Returns,” story of a man driven mad by a drug that made him invisible, and who struck terror into the hearts of a panic-stricken civilisation! “Stop him!” screamed a city in frenzied terror, but the law was powerless- to stop something that could not be seen! Always amazing and at times amusing, the motion picture which shows at the Meteor Theatre to-day easily rates the recommendation as genuinely unique entertainment, but defies adequate description. Suffice it to. say that “The 'lnvisible Man Returns” (is definitely entertainment and that it derives most of this quality from the weirdest camera trickery ever employed. Its effects leave the audience breathless at many points during the story, which is ideally tailored as a now vehicle for tho unseen screen character. The story was suggested by “Tho Invisible Man,” written by H. G. Wells. With Vincent Price in tho title role, it is the eerie talc of a man who is condemned to die for the murder of his brother. He is made invisible, and thereby escapes tho death coll. Price etches an unforgettable character even though lie is invisible throughout the story. Sir Cedric Hardwicke shifts to a “heavy” role and gives it his customary polish. Nan Grey is attractive and believable as the Invisible Man’s fiancee. , KOSY THEATRE. “FOR FREEDOM.” “For Freedom” commences in a newsreel office in London just before Munich. Will Fyft'e, as the editor, has the idea of a film retelling events between the end of the last war and tho beginning of this. Of interest to New Zealanders is the fact that one of the commentators in this film is Vice-Admiral J. E. ,T. Harper, C. 8., M.'V.O. (Retd.), a New Zcalandoi, who served in the Navy during the last war and is now retired. lie is a distinguished ' naval historian, and compiled the i official record of the Battle of Jutland, lie was the first Now Zealander to achieve Vice-Admiral’s rank.

Charlie McCarthy finally has realised that lie is an important 'figure in the movie industry. At least Universal executives were led to believe that when they were trying to got the actual filming started on “You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man.” With the script all prepared, Director George Marshall ready to give the starting order and W. C. Fields and Edgar .Bergen waiting to begin, Charlie became a holdout. “I won’t do a lick of work until I get my own dressing room,” Master McCarthy declared. “Fields has his own dressing room. Ain I not as good as Fields? As good—l’m better every day in tho week!” “Why, you jabbering hat rack,” retorted Fields, “I’ll whittle you down to a toothpick if you aren’t careful.” “Hold your tongue, Fields, or I’ll mow' you down like a blade of grass,” Charlie shouted. “I still won’t start the picture until I get my bungalow.” So Producer Lester Cowan issued orders for the immediate building of the bungalow.

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “HELL’S CARGO.” Seaplanes taking children off a liner in distress, a destroyer, her bridge sealed against a mammoth cloud of gas drifting across the sea, dashing to the rescue of the remaining passengers, a tanker stopped in mid-ocean with great clouds of choking vapour billowing over her as her deadly acid cargo is cast into the sea—these are hut a few of tho thrilling scenes that make “Hell’.s Cargo,” showing today at the Mayfair Theatre, a truly re--markable film. There are three heroes. British, French and Russian, and each is a naval officer. They are friends until a cafe brawl among their crews estrange them. Later all three find themselves on tho French ship in deadly dangerous circumstances and show that each is, a genuine hero and that labels of nationality matter very , little in faco of peril. Also screening : “Kid Nightingale,” starring John Payne, Jane W.vman, Walter Carlett. When he swings look out for your heart and your chin; plus episode 11 of “The Green Hornet,” “Death Rides tho Rails.”