REGENT THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 68, 22 March 1939, Page 9

REGENT THEATRE

“PRISON BREAK” AND “THE 1 MINSTREL BOY” i i Barton Mac Lane and Glenda Far--1 rell turn their talents to stark and ■ thrilling drama in Universal’s “Prison Break,” scheduled to open at the Regent Theatre to-day. Mac Lane ■ and Miss Farrell, who have been starring in the “Torchy Blane” series of ’ laughmakers, are cast as the central characters in a moving story of the evils of the U.S.A, prison parole system. Mac Lane will be seen as a tunafisherman who assumes the burden , of another’s crime and is sentenced to a term in San Quentin. For his heroic share in the suppression of a murderous prison riot and wholesale jail-break, he is paroled. But. he finds himself unable to secure honest employment, breaks his parole and considers a life of crime. Miss Farrell is cast as his sweetheart, who ultimately convinces him that best course is to return to prison. The supporting roles are played by a hand-picked cast which includes Paul Hurst as a prison stoolpigeon; Constance Moore, as Mac Lane’s sister; - Ward Bond as a prison bully and ringleader; Edward Pawley as a fisher-man-rival of Mac Lane’s; Edmund MacDonald, as Mac Lane’s first mate; John Russell, capable child player, as ■ Miss Farrell’s son; Frank Darian, as a ‘ philosophic “lifter,” and Victor Kil- ' lian as Glenda’s stern father. In “The Minstrel Boy” on the same pro- • gramme, the title refers to the 1 leader of a popular dance band • (Fred Conyngham), who falls in love with the scion of a snobbish county family, marries her, and introduces her to his own rowdy set culled from the purlieus of Archer Street. When an old flame (Chili Bouchier) makes a a dead set for her husband, the young wife (Lucille Lisle) returns to her ancestral home and the protection of a former suitor. How she discovers she has misjudged her husband and rescues him just in time from suicide makes a dramatic finish. Six new hits are sung in this picture “Moonlight Madonna,” “Sweet Muchacha,” “Tango Town,” “The Best Thing in Life,” and “The Minstrel Boy.”