ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 10 January 1940, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT ATTRACTIONS STATE: “PECK’S BAD BOY WITH THE CIRCUS,” STARRING TOM- j MY KELLY-ANN GILLIS Tommy Kelly—remember him as Tom Sawyer?—characterises fun-loving funmaking typical American youth in “Peck’s Bay Boy With the Circus,” in an entirely new background for George W. Peck’s juvenile hero. Here is a soul-gratifying mixture of real oldfashioned laughs and human interest. In this compilation of Bill Peck’s activities, he is seen as a vacation-bound youngster cheated out of his railroad fare by an unscrupulous circus attendant. He joins the show to hitch-hike to his camp. Determined upon revenge he feeds sleeping pills to the lions, converting a hair-raising exhibition of animal mastery into a comedy fiasco between a bewildered trainer and five sleepy lions. After this the fun piles up rapidly. Bill’s ludicrous equine acrobatics; his pranks which plunge him into mounting difficulty; and his youthful “crush” romance with the show’s young bareback rider lead to a merry and wild chariot race to the summer camp in time for the opening obstacle event. It’s one of the most exciting climaxes of the new season’s picture output! FRIDAY: “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” Samuel Goldwyn, dean of the more artistic of Hollywood’s film producers, in translating Emily Bronte’s famous novel, “Wuthering Heights,” to the screen, has produced his greatest triumph. The picture has been acclaimed the most outstanding picture so far of 1939 because of its compelling artistry, its beauty and dramatic power. The story was adapted by Ben Hedt and Charles MacArthur, who have retained all of the strange haunting quality of the original. It is concerned with thwarted love and terrible vengeance; the tortured love affair between Cathy end Heathcliff, the her eccape by marriage to Edgar Linton, and Heathcliffs, savage retaliation. The strange three-cornered love story is told with dramatic impact, sweeping romance and in terms of stark human emotions, mysteriously influenced by the desolate Yorkshire moors. AT THE MAJESTIC: CHARLES DICKENS, “A CHRISTMAS CAROL” Scrooge, Tiny Tim, the Cratchits and the rest of the beloved characters in the Charles Dickens story came to life in “A Christmas Carol,” filmisation of the classic tale, which opened yesterday at the Majestic Theatre. Directed by Edwin L. Martin, with Reginald Owen in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser, and Terry Kilburn, as Tiny Tim, , the crippled child who touches the man’s hard heart, the picture follows the original story with absolute fidelity. Old London of the Dickens period is faithfully reproduced, with its quaint Christmas costumes, its singing of carols and other details of the story. The cast includes Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as Bob Cratchit, the clerk, and his wife, parents of Tiny Tim. Lynne Carver and Barry Mackay are the romantic leads as Scrooge’s nephew and his sweetheart, and Leo G. Carroll, Lionel Braham, Ann Rutherford, D’Arcy Corrigan and Ronald Sinclair are among the players. COMMENCING FRIDAY: PETER B KYNE’S “VALLEY OF THE GIANTS” “Valley of the Giants,” produced by Warner Bros, in beautiful Technicolour. with Wayne Morris and Claire Trevor heading a brilliant cast, is scheduled to open at the Majestic Theatre next Fri- ; day. Based upon the famous Peter B. Kyne novel of the same name, the pic- ; ture tells a story typical of the valiant fight waged same thirty-odd years ago to prevent the utter despoliation of California’s noted redwood forests by ruthlessly selfish lumber interests. REGENT, TO-NIGHT: “FLIGHT FROM GLORY” AND GEORGE O’BRIEN IN “HOLLYWOOD COWBOY” A gripping drama of an aerial legion of lost men, “Flight From Glory” has Chester Morris and Whitney Bourne in the leading roles. Concerning the harrowing experiences of a group of renegade aviators engaged in flying condemned planes over the lofty peaks of the treacherous Andes, the exciting story attains unusual dramatic heights in its vivid depiction of the reaction of these exiled men to a young girl whom circumstances bring to the remote South American settlement. Thundering hoofs vie with shrieking wings as planes and ponies contribute to the fast action in “Hollywood Cowboy,” George O’Brien’s latest thriller. Set against the picturesque Wyoming plains, the story records in exciting fashion a range war with cattlemen on one side and a gang of big city racketeers on the other. O’Brien is seen as a movie cowboy who inadvertently walks into the fracas, falls in love with the piece of a rancher and so decides to take part. How he succeeds in capturing the ruthless ring provides plenty of fast action and thrills.