The Moviegoer

The poor old state of Georgia, just beginning to lift her head from the shame wrought up by "Fugitive from a Chain Gang," has had more coals heaped upon her by its sequel, "Road Gang." We are a bit skeptical about the horrors of Georgia state prison camps, as "Road Gang" paints them, but if they are authentic, we do not hesitate to dub it one of the most dramatic--yes, gripping--frame-up stories of the year. The movie is good blood-and-thunder stuff: political muckraking, frame-ups, jail-breaks, murder, the lash, electrocution. The action moved so fast we forgot all about the possible exaggerations and errors, all except one little flaw where a Western Union messenger boy delivers a telegram which turns out to be printed-on a Postal Telegraph blank. You have probably never heard of Donald Woods or Kay Linaker, the principal pair in the cast, but go to see them in "Road Gang." You'll like the picture, even if you are from Georgia.

Now you can't say that you have never heard of Warner Donald. This time we find "Charlie Chan at the Circus," and as usual, he snoops around very casually under the Big Top, tossing off chopped up Chinese aphorisms every few minutes, always progressing straight as an arrow towards the solution of his case. Charlie is such a marvelous detective, and he has pulled so many surprises out of his bag in former pictures that we have gotten used to astonishing plots, particularly the one in "Charlie Chan at the Circus." Imagine our profound disappointment when we discovered that a beastly, ferocious murderer was only a man in ape's clothing! But you'll like the shiny, blood-thirsty cobra that drops down from the ventilator onto Charlie Chan's bed in the middle of the night.