REGENT THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1940, Page 2

REGENT THEATRE

“NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE.” Tonight's programme will be headed by “Nick Carter, Master Detective.” Many of the scenes were photographed in the Lockheed Airplane Works in Burbank, California, showing on the screen for the first time the operation of an immense airplane plant in full swing on a wartime basis. The intricate machinery made it impossible to use Hollywood extras for these scenes, so the regular force of 150 mechanics were pressed into service as actors. One of the most exciting scenes of the picture was photographed on the Mohave Desert near Victorville, showing a running gun battle between Nick Carter in an airplane with a band of foreign agents in an automobile racing over the desert in an attempt to bring down the plane and get the valuable secret plans of the SuperRocket Ship. The Rocket Ship itself which, according to the story, can ascend into the stratosphere in a few minutes, is a work of technical imagination worthy of Jules Verne. The power dive of the Rocket Ship, in which one of the inventors meets his death because of sabotage, is one of the most thrilling scenes of the picture. Many other exciting scenes are laid in and around Los Angeles Harbour. The pursuit of a private cruiser, bearing the foreign agents who have obtained the plans, by Carter in a hydro-plane which is brought down into the sea by machine gun fire from the boat, is one of the real thrills of the picture. And the denouement of the story, when the police boat gives chase, bringing the criminals to a halt with gunfire from a one-pounder and rescuing Nick Carter, gives the picture a thoroughly thrilling finish.

Splendid supporting subjects include a two-reel comedy, “A Plumbing They Will Go.” a Sports Thrill, a clever cartoon and the latest Overseas News with sensational shots of the actual Nazi bombing raids on defenceless European towns. The plans are at Nimmo’s and the theatre.