"FIVE CAME BACK"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24305, 23 May 1940, Page 13

"FIVE CAME BACK"

JUNGLE DRAMA What is hailed as one of the most unusual stories ever told on the screen is " Five Came Back," which will be seen at the State Theatre to-morrow, with an all-star cast which includes Chester Morris. Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine, Allen Jenkins, Joseph Calleia, C. Aubrey Smith, Kent Taylor, Patric Knowles, and Elisabeth Risdon. The absorbing plot deals with the grim experiences of a group of plane passengers and pilots forced down in the Brazilian jungle by a tropical storm and fighting a desperate race against time and death as they try to- repair the plane and fly out again. Two romances and a vivid tale of heroism and sacrifice are woven together to make this one oi the most memorable films of recent years. Two pilots, a steward, and nine passengers leave the United States for Panama, and, as the title indicates, only five of them return to civilisation after a month's enforced stay in the steamliig wilds of the upper Amazon. What happens in the meantime affords the compelling drama of the story. The development of the dual love affairs, the moral disintegration of two of the men in the party, the discovery that headhunting Jivaro Indians are lurking nearby, and the death of twi« of the group at their hands, the trial flight of the repaired piano, and the startling discovery that it can carry only five of the party to freedom a.i lead up to the stark climax when one man. a conferred murderer, must select which of the little group shall return and which must remain to face the oncoming savages. Chester Morris and Kent Taylor play the roles of the two pilots, and they sustain the masculine halves of the romances with Miss Ball and Miss Barrie respectively. Calleia has the role of the killer who becomes the Judge for the survivors. Carradine that of a detective taking Calleia back to stand his trial, and Jenkins that of a gangster escorting his leader s young son out of the way of a gang war. Patric Knowlef portrays a weak-willed millionaire. C. Aubrey Smith and Elisabeth Risdon a scientist and his wife, little Casey Johnson as the youngster, and Dick Hogan as a steward.