SMALL TOWN AND WESTERN DRAMAS

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23004, 26 April 1940, Page 5

SMALL TOWN AND WESTERN DRAMAS

Double-Feature Programme For Crystal Palaee

Barely " does a film; portray a true i film, “Meet Doctor Christian,” which picture of' small town life so well as will open at the Crystal Palace to-day. does the new Jean Hersholt starring! It is a warm and human-story of a

small town physician who dedicates his life to the welfare of his friends and neighbours. In it, Hersholt gives one of his most convincing performances to date. He portrays Doctor Paul Christian with an ease and naturalness and kindly graciousness that leave the spectator with the feeling of having known intimately the lovable doctor. The story is about the efforts of the doctor to wake the small town of River’s End to its need for a hospital. Balked at every hand in his treatment, of sickness in the community by a lack of suitable, modern equipment, it is only with the greatest difficulty that Hersholt succeeds in his mission. There is a romantic side to the story, too, with Dorothy Lovett, as Nurse Judy Price, and Robert Baldwin, as her village swain, taking the spotlight for this side of the proceedings. Homely comedy occupies much of the action and is capably handled by the juvenile section of the cast, which features Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran and Patsy Lee Parsons. Other supporting players include Enid Bennett and Paul Harvey. “The Marshal of Mesa City” is George O’Brien’s latest outdoor drama. It is the associate feature. On his way to his ranch in the south-eastern part of Arizona to lead a quiet life after years of service in bringing law and order to frontier towns,—the period of the picture is 1880—O’Brien comes to Mesa City, a small community' struggling to free itself from the despotic rule of its outlaw sheriff and his band of desperadoes. When the town’s marshal is killed, O’Brien 15 commissioned marshal. - His adventures in taming Mesa City’s bad men, combating intrigue of his poltical opponents, and his romance with an attractive young school teacher combine to make “The Marshal of Mesa City” one of the most thrilling of O.’Brien vehicles. - . . . Virginia Hale, Leon Ames, and Henry Brandon are also in the cast. __