“THE MOON’S OUR HOME”

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 256, 25 July 1936, Page 26

“THE MOON’S OUR HOME”

A New Version of “Private Lives” (By John Storm.) In "The Moon's Our Home.” the dramatic actress, Margaret Sullavan, proves her versatility by appearing as a rollicking tomboy. The picture is chiefly interesting on this account. The romping, hilarious mood is thinly disguised by the legend that she is plain Sally Brown, who has become CherryChester, the film star, but the disguise is quite unnecessary. We would have just as agreeably accepted a temperamental lady on her own account, for this reason, to play a film star for a film star is, just as unacceptable as, say. for an editor to play an editor in a story or a drama 1 It would bore them both. So here we see the versatile Margaret iu a mood of boredom playing that she is married to her former real life husband, Henry Fonda. Henry seems to take the fooling very seriously, aud one wonders if the film world tries 'these games on to see what will happen to the heart of a former husband. At least one thing happens to Henry. He stands out as a definite entity in the midst of tornadoes of broken crockery in handsome interiors and glissades in snow shoes in wintry exteriors. Her leading man, in fact, for the first time in her screen career, overshadows the gifted young actress. The effect is most odd. It leaves us with a sense of wishing to see the film over again to find out what Margaret really did in it. We remember that she fell in a heap on the floor when she got grandmother’s telegram to say that grandmother was ill And we know that she threw the furniture about when she came home and found grandmother quite well! We remember, too, that she ran away and disappeared when she had spent five minutes with I-lenry Fonda in the back seat of her grandmother’s landau. Henry had tumbled into the landau for sanctuary, with a sleeve torn, off his coat, because his lady admirers had met him at his hotel. Henry was not really John Smith, but an explorer and author with a fancy name, but he left the common one on the seat of the landau when he jumped out. with the address of his mountain “hideout.” Miss Sullavan, we remember, followed him thence as plain Sally Brown. Thinking him plain John Smith, in a moment of excitement arid frenzv she married him. The same evening she left him because the musk in her perfume • reminded him of a man killer in Java or an African swamp. Then she turns up at home in time to go gay at her betrothal party to her cousin Charles Butterworth. The little circumstance of the “Wilt thou take” of the mountains seemed forgotten. Charles Butterworth turns out to be not only a millionaire, but Henry Fonda’s old friend. Henry is invited to the party. When he and Margaret meet at the witching hour of the New Year, then they remember they are married and when they find out that respectively they are a film star and an author, they roll on the floor with rage. Grandmother, an aeroplane, even the police, come to the rescue two or three days later, and there is some kind of hope that at least while they are “In the Moon” they' will be happy. And artistically no one offers the suggestion that it is the onlv happy place! The excellent comedian. Charles Butterworth, supports, and so does Beulah Bondi of “Lone Pine” fame.

Those who enjoyed “Private Lives,” will find this an offering much of its kind. No particular story, and no particular acting, but a great deal of fooling makes Henry Fonda a reality and Margaret Sullavan a versatility in motion.