in North America about 25 years hence. But the life it projects for that era may be upon us sooner than we think. Ricardo Montalban, as a circus owner, and his secretly intelligent ape Roddy McDowall pass out handbills in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes." The spectacular science-fiction suspense thriller, produced by Arthur P. Jacobs and released by 20th Century-Fox, starts at the Theatre. The film features simians, who have been sold into slavery, in an uprising which culminates in a fiery battle in which the primates, armed with homemade primitive weapons, are opposed by the well-equipped security forces of the state.

This is McDowall's third "Apes" venture and his 40th feature film since coming to Hollywood from London 31 years ago to play an English lad in "Man Hunt." His films include many of the screen's most memorable works - "My Friend Flicka," "How Green Was My Valley," "Kidnapped," "The Longest Day," "Lassie, Come Home," "Cleopatra" and many others. He lives mainly in New York, but flits worldwide on special photographic assignments for major magazines when not busy on the stage or sound sets. On the stage he has won plaudits for his roles in such offerings as "Compulsion," "Camelot" and The Doctor's Dilemma" in New York. The cast of "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes," in addition to McDowall, includes Ricardo Montal That these pictures were made at all is a tribute to the tenacity of Producer Arthur P. Jacobs, a former public relations representative, whose roster of clients included Marilyn Monroe and Gregory Peck plus such top corporate accounts as American Airlines. In 1962 Jacobs bought the screen rights to Pierre Boulle's French novel while it was in manuscript form. The "Apes" films are using the characters created in the Boulle story. He felt he had the coup of the decade - then spent five years trying to make a deal to film it for distribution by a major company. Jacobs finally put "Planet of the Apes" into production at 20th Century-Fox in 1967.

Roddy McDowall is the only one of the original cast to be seen in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes." Charlton Heston as the U.S. astronaut, and Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius, the orangutan minister of science, died in the terrifying underground nuclear battle in the closing moments of the second picture, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes." McDowall and Kim Hunter, as Cornelius and Zira, the chimpanzee scientists whose romance charmed millions of boxoffice patrons, succumbed to assassin's bullets in the third film, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes." They had produced an infant of their own and he, too, was the target of authorities who feared the apes might multiply and take over the earth. But the baby escaped. Now, in "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes," grown to full chimphood, he emerges from years of hiding in a circus and is shocked to find his fellow simians imported from Africa by the boatload and sold into slavery. Known as Caesar, he leads the apes in an uprising which culminates in a fiery battle in which the primates, with homemade primitive weapons, are opposed by the well-equipped security forces of the state. As with the previous films, "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" appeals to virtually every age group and across national, racial, social and economic boundaries. Audiences who prefer cerebral amusement have enjoyed the "Apes" films as keenly as those who look for action and intrigue. broad, brash strokes and blends slashing social satire and science fiction suspense with large-scale spectacle and special effects.

Directed by J. Lee Thompson and scripted by Paul Dehn - both Britons with cinematic successes to their credit on both sides of the Atlantic -~ it was photographed by Bruce Surtees entirely in Southern California. Once again, John Chambers' remarkable makeup concepts - for which he won an Academy Award in 1969 - impart mobility and therefore believability to the faces of the several hundred actors who portray apes in the current film.