ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 280, 25 October 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “FLIGHT AT MIDNIGHT.” A thrilling aeronautical drama, that soars to new heights of screen thrills, will be presented at tho Mayfair Theatre to-night. Tho picture is “Flight at Midnight,” a Republic production co-starring Phil Regan and Jean Parker with Colonel Roscoo Turner, America’s “ace” of tho air also included in the big cast. Tho story concerns tho problems of a small airport manager who is faced with tho necessity of raising £25,000 with which to bury hazardous high tension wires surrounding the aerodrome. Among those who come to. his assistance arc Mail Pilot “Spinner” Magee,, played by Phil Regan, Torpy his mechanic, played by Noah Beery, junr., and Roscoe '.turner, played by himself. Tho airport can be mortgaged for £15,000 and another. £7OOO can be raised if a now plane, the “Scout” successfully passes the Government tests. Roscoo Turner hopes to win the remaining £SOOO at tho Cleveland air races. “The Read End Kids” and “The Little Tough Guys” are featured in “You’re Not ,So Tough,” tho associate feature cn tho Mayfair programme. Also screening is episode 7 of “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.” REGENT THEATRE. “GUNNER GEORGE.” Never before has the world boon in such dire need of laughter —the kind of laughter which springs wholeheartedly front the antics of tiie character or characters presented on the screen. To-day, more than ever, people on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australasia look to tho motion picture industry to take them away from the grim realisation cf the present conflict. During the last war pictures were to a great extent in their infancy.' 'llie theatre was still the strongest force of entertainment, and yet from tho crude attempts of that time, a film character became famous. The British soldier of that day speaks of Charlie Chaplin with a deep sense of gratitude. Ho not only provided a figure of fun at which disillusioned people could laugh; he not only created a fantasy world in which tired minds could escape; he became -the most important psychological factor in the morale of the army man. To-day, another Englishman, in George Formby, has taken on the mantle of the inimitable Chaplin. His popularity with the fighting men is undoubted, as was proved when lie recently undertook an entertainment itinerary of the military camps in England. And in “Gunner George,” his latest nautical mirthquake which shows at the Regent Theatre to-day, he is just as successlul as a, mirth-provoker as Chaplin was m “Shoulder Arms.” There lias been abundant evidence of late that audiences aio definitely running away from films with a heavy and depressing background. .Films with a patriotic motive are obviously a big vogue, but those dealing directly with actual lighting or intimate domestic detail are far lroin welcome.