"THE LADYANDTHE MONSTER"
AT THE IMPERIAL NEXT WEEK
At the Imperial next Sunday
will be “Hat’s Off.” Added, select
ed short subjects.
Monday and Tuesday the feature
will be “The Lady and the Mon
ster.” This picture deals with
thrill-seeking parents who neglect
their children and then wonder
why their offsprings get into dif
ficulties. William Night turned in
a good job of directing, while Pro
ducer Jeffrey Bernerd’s showman
ship makes itself felt.
Noel Neill, who has been under
contract to Paramount, does
splendid work as the daughter,
who has been neglected by her
twice-rnarried mother, Helen Vin
son. Richard Byron, recruited from
the New York stage, gives a con
vincing performance as the son of
Anthony Warde, an important de
fense plant man, who neglects
Richard.
Helen Vincent, Lyle Talbot, Ad
dison Richards, Ivan Lebedeff,
Emmett Vogan, Claire McDowell
and Ian Wolfe furnish their usual
reliable performances, while John
Calvert, the magician, makes a
good impression in his initial
screen appearance. Jean Carlin is
seen to good advantage.
Bored with her finishing school
routine and neglected by her
mother, Helen Vinson, a career
■woman, Noel Neill goes to a road
house, which is raided by the po
lice. She escapes, but Addison
Richards, juvenile officer, learns
©f it and informs Miss Vinson of
the escapade. Starved for affection
Noel meets Ivan Lebedeff, violinist
and night club owner, who has
been making love to her mother.
Ivan had promised to marry Jean
Carlin, but when Jean’s father,
John Calvert, learns Lebedeff had
been toying with his daughter, he
murders him.
Suspicion is placed on Noel and
Richard Byron, who had fallen in
love with her, but Richards re
ports the real murderer has been
found.
The program at the Imperial
Wednesday and Thursday will be
“Are These Our Parents?” starring
Helen Vinson and Lyle Talbot. The
story is a far-fetched affair ac
ceptable only because departure
from reality is to be forgiven in
melodramatic entertainment of^the
type under discussion. In an at
tempt to heighten the sinister
mood of the story the production
has been directed at a slow, de
liberate pace by George Sherman,
who also functioned as associate
producer.
Plot developments result trom
the attempt of Erich von Stroheim,
satanic man of science to prove
that the human brain can be kept
functioning alter death with the
aid of a machine invented by his
assistant, Richard Arlen. Von Stro
heim swipes the brain of a plane
accident victim, a brilliant but
ruthless individual in his lifetime,
and. submits it to the test. Through
the use of telepathy von Stroheim |
places Arlen under the influence
of the brain, causing the latter
to take on the personality of the
dead man and indulging in crim
inal deeds alien to his nature.
Aghast, Vera Hruba Ralston, Ar
len’s fiancee and von Stroheim’s
ward, tries to put a halt to the
experiment. Arlen, finally shaking
off the spell, defies von Stroheim
with the assistance of Miss Ral
ston. The film winds up with a
slam-bang fight between hero and
villain in which the brain is put
out of operation.
Miss Ralston, Czechoslovakian
skating star who has been featur
ed in Republic’s ice extravaganzas,
performs appealingly in her first
straight role. Arlen and von Stro
heim discharge their assignments
well. A brief but telling appear
ance is made by Helen Vinson as
the widow of the man who was
brained. Mary Nash, Sidney Black
mer and Bill Henry are some of
the others in lesser roles.
Friday and Saturday, “Riders of
the Rockies,” with Tex Ritter.
Mrs. B. W. Hardy left last Sat
urday to spend a few days at
Wilmington and Carolina Beach
with her son.
Mrs. R. M. Bardin is convalesc
ing after an appendectomy opera
tion last week.
Allen Is Member
Ordnance Outfit
With the Fifth Army, Italy
After playing “Jack-cf-all-trades”
from Egypt to Rome, a Fifth
Army prdnance company of which
Corporal John D. Allen, son of
Mrs. Edith S. Allen, who lives in
Roanoke Rapids, is a member re
cently completed its second year
overseas.
Starting at the Suez Canal in
June, 1942, the company salvaged
and serviced tanks, trucks and
guns for the British Eighth Army
across North Africa to Bizerte,
and for the Fifth Army from Sa
lerno to the Anzio beachhead to
Rome and northwards. Veteran
ordnance men, they repair every
thing in their machine shops from
45 ton tank trailers to wrist
watches. Frequently they go into
the front lines at night and work
on tank engines while under
enemy fire. For such outstanding
work on the Anzio beachhead the
unit was awarded the Fifth Army
Plaque of Excellence. The local
soldier also was awarded the red
and white Good Conduct Ribbon
for efficiency and exemplary be
havior.
— .1 — ——— I
Lloyd L. Ennis
Finishes Course
F/O Lloyd L. Ennis, son of Mrs.
J. E. Lynch, 307 Monroe street,
Roanoke Rapids, recently com
pleted an orientation course de
signed to bridge the gap between
training in the states and combat
soldiering against the enemy in
France. He is stationed at an
Air Service Command Base
"somewhere” in England.
Major and Mrs. E. B. Cannon,
of New Orleans, La., are spending
a few days here with Mr. and
Mrs. L. S. Cannon.
'ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN'
AT PEOPLES THEATRE SUNDAY
The Peoples Theatre will offer
for its feature picture next Sun
day, Monday and Tuesday, “Ad
ventures of Mark Twain.’’ Here is
a big-scale effort and a mg-time
show, executing with fidelity and
conviction of accuracy the home
spun characteristics of one of the
most homespun of native sons—
Samuel B. Clemens, as Mark
Twain, as he was better known
throughout the engirdled globe.
He was born when Halley’s Com
et streaked across the sky and
he died 75 years later when the
comet, on celestial schedule, re
appeared. Between boyhood days
along the Mississippi, the then raw
stretches of the unpeopled West
and Twain’s rise to domestic and
international fame was a story of
drama. This meant, of course, that
Mark Twain passed through those
variable experiences which make
for happiness and sorrow. With
him, however, there was the good
fortune which a sense of humor
imparts. Clemens, or Twain, had
it as well as all sundry are aware.
The filmed story of his life has it
and audiences are about to get it
for their enjoyment and vast satis
faction.
This biography, drawn almost
entirely from the factual, starts
with Clemens’ birth, carries him
through happy childhood times on
and along the Mississippi, but
mostly on. It tells of ’ the despair
of his mother over his future, of
his ambition to become a river
pilot, which he achieves; of how
he falls in love with a miniature
of Alexis Smith whom he ulti
mately marries. It continues with
his gold-seeking adventures in new
country where he had repaired to
roughen his honest edges with
money he felt necessary before
seeking .the girl's nanu tuiu ul
how both of them travel down the
pathways of renown to his finally
established position in the worfd
of American and world-wide let
ters.
Wednesday and Thursday at the
Peoples, Marjorie Reynilds and
Dennis O’Keefe, in “Up In BaW'l’s
Room.”
The story, of course, is the one
about the bridegroom who tries to
keep his wife from knowing about
an intimate present he gave, |j!me
years before his marriage, to a.
woman now engaged to marry his
friend. Two other happy marriages
and one romance are nearly
wrecked before the husband’s
fumbling attempts to convinc^^.is
wife and mother-in-law of his in
nocence succeed.
The principals in the cast all
handle their parts competently, al
though striving at times too ijmch.
for reality which never is Orally
necessary. Mischa Auer’s zany an
tics are a relief for those seek
ing more modern comedy. The
sets and women’s gowns are lavish,
- %
Friday, “The Ghost Ship.” Dix,
sea captain, realizes something is
wrong and that perhaps he’s going
insane because of things that oc
cur for which he feels lie^rnay
be responsible, but of whiOT^ he
has no knowledge. Wade is the
first to suspect him. Unable to
convince anyone, Wade nearly
meets his end as have several
others in horrible mystjtious
deaths, only to be saved by’the
mute Finn. But the captain is
killed in a bloody knife battle
with the Finn.
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6-15-44
PEOPLES
SUN. - MON. - TUES
Fredric March - Alexis Smith
ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN
Added: Latest News
WED. - THURS.
Marjorie Reynolds - Dennis O’Keefe
UP IN MABEL'S ROOM
Added: Selected Short Subjects
FRIDAY
Richard Dix - Edith Barrett
THE GHOST SHIP
Added: Selected Short Subjects
SATURDAY
Gene Autry
OH, SUSANNA
Added: The Desert Hawk
fMPCQfAft.ll
Summer Operating Policy
Admission: Matinee and Night
10c and 21c Plus Tax
SUNDAY
HAT'S OFF
Added: Selected Short Subjects
MON. - TUES.
Vera Ralston - Richard Arlen • 11
THE LADY AND THE MONSTER
Added: Latest News
*
WED. - THURS.
Helen Vinson - Lyle Talbot J':
ARE THESE OUR PARENTS? c
Added: Latest News
FRI. - SAT. ©
Tex Ritter
RIDERS OF THE ROCKIES
e i
Added: The Tiger Woman
S' i