ENTERTAINMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 233, 2 October 1943, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

TO-NIGHT’S PROGRAMMES OPERA HOUSE A girl who could capture an arsenal, seize Government trains, repeatedly rout United States troops, and still look beautiful and find time for love, is worthy of anyone’s interest. Such a girl was “Belle Starr,” the famous bandit queen of the Ozarks, who will be seen at the Opera House to-day, in the 20th Cen-tury-Fox technicolour production which bears her name. Tile picture, which provides exciting entertainment, features Randolph Scott as Sam Starr, the dashing guerrilla leader who loved and married Belle, and Gene Tierney as the “petticoat terror” herself. Both are perfectly cast and give outstanding performances. The story, which is full of fast action and vivid romance, and has some good comedy touches, opens in Belle’s home in Cathage, Missouri, just after Lee’s surrender. Determined to fight the cause of the South, she leaves all that she has known behind, joins the Starr band, and becomes its most daring member. The picture ends on a highly dramatic development. MAJESTIC THEATRE Battle and high adventure on the high seas, the exploits of a gallant old destroyer and her crew on convoy duty under fire in the Pacific, provide thrills galore, amid which comedy is mingled, in “Stand By For Action,” which screens at the Majestic to-day. The picture presents Robert Taylor, Charles Laughton and Brian Donlevy as naval heroes, amid fights with enemy aircraft, rescues, and attack on a battleship under smoke screen. Taylor plays a young lieutenant assigned with an older officer, played by Donlevy, to a recommissioned destroyer. Laughton plays an American admiral, and his address to the men on the destroyer, with its tribute to John Paul Jones, is an inspiring moment in the thrillpacked production. REGENT THEATRE. “Exciting entertainment is promised when “Romance of the Range,” starring Roy Rogers, screens at the Regent Theatre to-day. The picture boasts some of the most spectacular action ev'r to come to the screen, being crammed from beginning to end with hard-riding and furious fighting. It also boasts the tops in cast, for in addition to George “Gabby” Hayes, ranking comedian in all the Rogers westerns, the film presents such well-known performers as Linda Hayes, Sally Payne, Edward Pawley, Glenn Strange, Hal Taliaferro, and the popular songsters of the air-waves, the Sons of the Pioneers. War produces new frontiers lor the screen in the associate feature, “A Man’s World,” Columbia's new thrilling melodrama. William Wright and Marguerite Chapman are the stars. DUCHESS THEATRE. Modern melodrame on a grand scale is the description of “Paris Calling,” which screens at the Duchess Theatre to-night. The plot concerns the intrigue of European spy systems, and the stars are Randolph Scott and Elizabeth Bergner.