ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 249, 18 September 1940, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE

“THEY CAME BY NIGHT.”

Thrills, mystery, comedy and romance arc deftly blended into grand entertainment in “They Came By Night,” the exciting new mystery hit, starring Will Fyffe which shows at lire State Theatre to-day. And the great Scotch 'star scores again in this 20th Century-Fox. release. Things begin happening, fast when Fylie, as a canny Scot, gets mixed up with ■an amazing crime ring, steals from the crooks whoti they make a haul and joins the .gang when they plan their biggest job ! Fyffe, who recently scored in “To tiro Victor’ and “Rulers of the Sea,” gives his grandest performance to date in this amazing story. He’ll keep you gasping between chuckles and he’ll keep you baffled too, wondering whether he’s a thief, .using his canny Scotch brain to steal from super-crooks or whether he’s a dupe caught in the clutches of the most amazing crime ring any human ever got tangled up with. /> “Sword of Honour,” showing at the. State Theatre to-dny is the most ■ ambitious military picture ever turned out of a Britisli studio. It was produced witli . the entire co-opcra-tion of the War Office and the military authorities. Its authentic and thrilling entertainment is ensured by story and artistes. Geoffrey Toone, Sally Gray and Dorothy Dickson are starred and supported by featured players such as Donald Gray and Wally Patch. The location is the Royal Military College at Sandhurst,, and every phase of the training and commissioning of tho officers is faithfully and accurately shown.

METEOR THEATRE

“RETURN TO YESTERDAY.”

In “Return to Yesterday,” which was directed by Robert Stevenson and is now showing at the Meteor Theatre, Clive Brook is supported by Anna Lac, this being her third Ealing production this year. Other artists inolude well-known players, such as Dame May Whitty, Milton Rosmer and Garry Marsh. A great deal of the action of the story takes place in a small repertory theatre on a seaside pier. Clive Brook and Anna Lee have both had their share of repertory and touring before they became famous ill ' films and both have declared feelingly that the Ealing studio's art department has ■ recaptured with great accuracy all the discomforts and the romance of this type of theatre—the flashy curtains garnished with badly designed roj'al crowns, the rickety chairs, the musty ill-litting scenery, the backstage notices to artists, the telephone that is always half coming away from its moorings on tho wall and tho faded pennants hung in the auditorium to distract attention from the peeling plaster of tho walls. Robert Stevenson confesses that, their most difficult problem in getting this set ready was to prevent tho natural good taste of the art department from creeping in l