AMUSEMENTS STATE THEATRE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21576, 12 February 1940, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS STATE THEATRE

“HERE I AM A STRANGER” A daringly significant story of modern life that is out of the beaten path is “Here I am A Stranger,” which will conclude its season at the State to-day. “Chicken Waggon Family” Gay Jane Withers and Leo Carrillo are partners again in “Chicken Waggon Family,” opening to-morrow at the State Theatre. Based on the heart-warming Barry Benefield story that stirs the wanderlust in us all, Jane’s new film is about a family that tosses its cares into a red bandanna and heeds the call of the open road — with daughter Jane and Daddy Carrillo in the driver’s seat. Rolling around the country in their muledrawn waggon, they trade any and everything for chickens, which they market when they hit the big town. And Jane runs into plenty of mischief and fun, both en route and after they reach the city. Marjorie Weaver plays Jane’s big sister; Spring Byington, the famous mother of the Jones Family series, plays Jane’s Ma; and Kane Richmond is seen as the handsome cop, who helps the little family out of their difficulties—and falls head over heels in love with Marjorie. A romance between a two-fisted cattleman and an enterprising newspaperwoman is woven throughout George O’Brien’s latest Western thriller “Timber Stampede.” O’Brien is cast as a rancher who fights a gigantic land grab instigated by a group of robber barons seeking to despoil a rich timber country. Marjorie Reynolds plays a newspaperwoman hired by the crooked ring to spread propaganda in a frontier town, but who learns she is being duped when she falls in love with O’Brien. How the pair join forces to run the racketeers out of the section is said to provide fast action in the gripping drama.

REGENT THEATRE “SECRET SERVICE OF THE AIR” Hazardous and thrilling adventures of the men of the United States Secret Service are dramatised in a new series of Warner Bros, pictures “Secret Service Adventures,” starring Ronald Reagan, the first of which is showing at the Regent Theatre. The lead-off film is “Secret Service of the Air.” “Secret Service of the Air” is concerned mainly with the breaking up of a gang which has been smuggling aliens into the United States by air. It is for this specific task that Reagan, who has been working as a pilot of China Clippers, is asked to join the service by a friend, played by John Li tel, who is an official of the service. Just as he is about to conclude his mission successfully, his real identity is learned by the smugglers and he has to put up a successful battle for his life before he can turn his prisoners and his evidence over to his superiors. Aside from Reagan and Litel, others prominent in the cast of “Secret Service of the Air” include Ila Rhodes, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, jnr., Rosella Towne, Anthony Averill and Bernard Nedell. Also on this bright and entertaining programme is another of the “Blondie” series, “Blondie Meets the Boss.” This series of screen adaptations from the famous newspaper comic strip are famous for the humour and down-to-earth fun. Arthur Lake plays “Dagwood,” the hen-pecked husband of “Blondie” played by Penny Singleton with Larry Simms the perfect “Baby Dumpling. ’ Plans are open Beggs and the Theatre.

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“THE SUN NEVER SETS” Deriving drama from the everchanging world affairs of to-day, Universal’s “The Sun Never Sets” brings Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Basil Rathbone, Virginia Field, Barbara O’Neil and others to the screen of the Majestic Theatre. While the new picture concerns itself largely with the romantic careers of two closely-knit couples in England and on the Gold Coast of Africa, it has its background in the channels of international diplomacy. Fairbanks and Rathbone, as brothers and British civil service of-

ficials, find themselves in a dramatic position as key characters in a political emergency that might rock the entire world if their heroic efforts prove in vain. Lionel Atwill, C. Aubrey Smith. Melville Cooper and Mary Forbes have other roles. Rowland V. Lee produced and directed. A strong supporting programme includes “Ice Antics,” depicting remarkable feats of ice skating, an English Pathe Gazette showing shots of the invasion of Finland and dramatic scenes of mined steamers and U-boat prisoners, a travelogue, “Dance of the Eyes,” and a Cinesound News.