PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 282, 2 December 1935, Page 12

PLAZA THEATRE

“CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI” Glamour, drama, mystery, danger—these are some of the characteristics of the latest and in some respects the best of Charlie Chan's exploits as recorded in “Charlie Chan in Shanghai. ” The picture opened its season I at the Plaza Theatre on Saturday. UrIbane, calm, impassive, slow in speech, ! scarcely the model of a great film detective, Chan leads the audience through the enthralling story of how an opium gang are broken up in this J city of the teeming East. There is a murder by an infernal machine at a public dinner; there is attempted murder; there are threatening letters; there is a gun fight in a foul den down near the river. And in everything Charlie Chan knows exactly what he is doing, though everyone is lost in the mystery of the plot, and he scatters through his progress little gess of wisdom in the clipped speech and epigrammatic form, which have made him famous. Thrills start from the word “go.” There are no dull moments. Just when one thinks one

has seen through the plot, a fresh complication arises, and one begins all over again. Warner Gland’s acting is as good as ever. Irene Hervey is- the heroine. She has a difficult part to play and she does it in convincing manner with finished technique. The supports are particularly good. One is a picture survey of the air route from Brisbane to Singapore, showing the native life in the various ports of call. This is the picture instrictive at its best. No one would like to be a camera-man after seeing “Hazardous Occupations,” showing what the news reel man must do to get the pictures which the audience is accustomed to take for granted, while yet more strange fa'ets are seen in another of the “Truth is Stranger than Fiction” series. There will be no matinee at the Plaza Theatre this afternoon owing to the contractors being busy installing the latest system of improved sound reproduction. This will be used for to-night’s session and patrons arc promised a pleasurable surprise.