Evening star., 1940-08-24

quirks of smiling df not laughing
on the ledge outside the seventeenth
floor of an Office building, predica-
ment not unknown to Mr.. Lloyd.
Mr.. Ayres, aided by Rita john
son, Virginia Grey, Lloyd Nolan, Nat
Pendleton, Leon Enrol and sundry
lesser knowns, is occupied with this
nonsense in a comedy titled The
Golden Fleeing" the new film at
the Capitol. 1t is not, we are afraid,
an outrageously funny comedy. But
still it is an amiable affair, with
some bright moments and some dull
ones, the sort of thing the local
Lana Turner's might call cute"
The Golden Fleeing" is based on
a clever premise, but some one must
have left the gate open, for it has
strayed therefrom. You will be
amused, though, at the thought of an
earnest young insurance salesman
selling" $4,000 straight life pol
icy to a gang chief whom the law
would like to interview dead or alive
and whom the underworld would
not like to see interviewed alive by
the law.
That has all sorts of possibilities,
so if you don't like those which
eventuate in The Golden Fleeing"
you can try thinking up some of
your own. 1t ought to be fun. What
happens here is that the befuddled
insurance salesman decides he must
protect the mob magnate, who, need
ing cash for a getaway, allows the
lad to place him safely in Jail, on
the condition that he (the gang
boss) be given the reward money.
There is lot more, about some sup
posedly worthless stocks which
boom, a romance which is first hot,
then cold, then hot again, but we
probably have managed to pass on
enough of the confusion already.
Mr.. Ayres seems not to have been
confused by the quick change from
DR.. Kildare's assurance to Henry
Twinkle's timid bewilderment. He
"muggs" with the enthusiasm
Mickey Rooney displayed for that
practice when younger, expressing
his bemused condition easily if not
subtly by continually rumpling his
hair and twisting his hat. Miss
johnson, though hardly the girl you
would expect to be in love with
a Henry Twinkle, is impressively
sincere; Miss Grey Is attractive
enough to be made beneficiary to
any ones $4,000 life insurance pol
icy, and Lloyd Nolan now manages
to laugh at those racketeers he
plays so neatly, which is good.
The Capitols stage show is hardly
likely to send you into the streets
shouting with glee while you fling
your hat high in the air, but 1t does
have DR.. Think -a-Drink" Hoffman
and some nimbly executed dances
by the Rhythm Rockets among
the other things it has. One of
the dances introduces comely Miss
Virginia Howe and the speciality
she will take to Atlantic City when
she goes there as Miss Washington.
DR.. Hoffman reintroduces his ia
miliar but none the less intriguing
method of bar tending. pouring any
drink up to and including a cup of
coffee with cream and a choco-
late soda from a pitcher Of water.
Amazing fellow.
Jean Darling, once upon time
leading lady for Our Gang" come
dies, is on hand, too, grown up now
into an attractive 18-year-old singer
with a nice voice. She uses the
voice here for a pleasant musical
moment with some popular semi
classical numbers Others about are
Nellie Arnaut and the Arnaut broth
ers, who have managed to inject
into their clever bird imitation
some moments that would offend
almost any one, and Steve Evans,
a comedian.