ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 263, 4 October 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

METEOR THEATRE. “DUST BE MY DESTINY.”Tho Meteor Theatre will present to-day “Dust Bo My Destiny,” with John Garfield and Priscilla Lane, the two outstanding star discoveries of the past season. Based on the novel by Jerome Odium, the new film probes deeply and poignantly into the problems of the young “nobodics” of this generation, who wander about seeking jobs and “a place to hang their hats.” Garfield and Miss Lane meet and fall in love when ho is sentenced to a short term on a work farm for vagrancy. Her stepfather, one of the foremen of the farm, makes it so tough for them that they are forced to run away. He chases them, but drops dead of a heart attack. Unaware of this, they go on, and are married. When they hear, over a radio news broadcast, that Garfield is wanted for the murder of the foreman, she wants him to go back and prove hi's innocence. But his previous experiences with the law have proved to him that there is little chance for a' “nobody” once he is in the grips of the law. So they start fleeing across the country in the hope of finding a place where they can get a new start. But each time things begin to look promising, they find themselves in danger of being ~ found out. and have to pull up stakes and move on. At last, however, after he has heroically. risked his life to help in the capture of bank bandits. Priscilla tells the police who he is, risking his love for her in order to put an end to the ceaseless wandering. On the witness stand, she swears his innocence, and it is largely through her appeal and her account of their life together, that tho jury returns a verdict of “Not Guilty ”

REGENT THEATRE. “DR KILDARE’S STRANGE CASE.” The screen’s favourite doctor-hero, Dr J ames Kildare, again holds forth in M.-G.-M.’s latest “Dr. Kildare” film, “Dr Kildare’s Strange Case.” With Lew Ayres portraying tho title role and Lionel Barrymore as his mentor, Dr Leonard Gillespie, the fourth in the series of medical-detec-tive stories provides a dramatic glimpse of what goes on when a young interne takes matters into his own hands, acting solely cn a hunch. After refusing a wellpaying position in a private sanitorium, Ayres returns to his hospital to learn that his friend, Shcppcrd Strudwick, has performed what appears to have been bungled surgery. Putting facts together and acting on the theory that the patient might liavo been insane before the opera; tion was performed, Ayres, by tiie Us 6 oi insulin shock to restore insane people to normalcy, succeeds in vindicating liis friend and showing his superiors that his judgment was correct: Based upon the original story by Max Brand and Will is Goldbeck, tho drama introduces tlio screen’s first presentation of the actual treatment of insane people by use of insulin to cause shock. Prominent in the cast of “Dr Kildare’s Strangest Case” are Lara ire Day, Shepperd Strudwick, Samuel S. Hinas, Emma Dunn, Nat Pendleton. Walter Kingslord and Alma Kruger.

MAYFAIR THEATRE

‘PRIDE OF THE BLUEGRASS” AND

GANGS OF CHICAGO,

Elmer Gantry.' blind horse who jumps steeplechase hurdles with all the ■ courago and' sureness of a well-trained . and suresighted hunter, is the chief actor in “Pride of the Blucgrass,” the Warner Bros.’ racing picture showing to-day at the Mayfair Theatre. There is also a fine east of human performers, headed by Edith hollows, James McCallion, Granvillo Bales, Do Wolf Hopper and Frankie Burke. The picture,, irom an original screen play by Vincent Sherman and directed by William McGann, is not based upon the life of Gantry, but it is about a fictional horse a great deal like the noted blind jumper. In real life Gantry exhibits bis talents mainly at fairs and horse shows. In the picture he is a racehorse, first a flat racer and then a steeplechaser, who is stricken blind and yet learns to respond so bravely and confidently to the voiced command of his rider that he wins the world’s greatest steeplechase, the Grand National at Aintree, England. Interwoven with the story of the horse, there is also a moving tale about the humans whose lives touch his, particularly the story of the kid jockey and trainer, played by young McCallion. Riding Gantry in the Kentucky Derby as the horse goes blind, Jimmy is banned from racing. But he trains him so that between them they win. a double vindication at tho Aintree Grand National Steeplechase. Jimmy is the rider with Edith as his assistant. “Gangs of Chicago,” starring Lloyd Moran, is the associate attraction. Also screening is chapter 3 of “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.”