‘THE BROKEN LULLABY'

Evening Star, Issue 21170, 2 August 1932, Page 12

‘THE BROKEN LULLABY'

FOLLY OF NATIONAL HATRED The Paramount picture, ‘ The Broken Lullaby,’ which will open at the Regent Theatre on Friday, is not a war picture, and it will appeal directly to pacifist leaning, for in the unfolding of its story it.reveals the futility and tolly of national ■ hatred and war. ‘ The Broken Lullaby ’ tells of the post-war events in the' life of a former soldier in the war-time army. The principal roles are played by Lionel Barrymore, Nancy Carroll, and Phillips Holmes. Holmes is seen as the soldier of France sensitive, romantic-minded, who, in the performance of his duty, kills a young German soldier during his big enemy drive. As soon as the deed is committed he begins to stiff or a profound remorse. From a letter on the person of his victim he learns" the name of the dead soldier’s German sweetheart (Nancy Carroll), and the name of the town in which she lives with the dead man’s father (Lionel Barrymore), a stolid German nationalist, who harbours a great hatred for all Frenchmen. After this brief- warscene prologue the picture is occupied with the events in the lives of these three after peace has been declared. Holmes, driven by a sense of remorse and contrition, goes to Nancy’s home town, to confess to her and the father that he was the man who killed the youth she loved. She intercepts this errand when she meets him "at the grave of the deceased lover, and per suades him to say nothing about the war to the stern father. Barrymore meets Holmes, likes him, and soon forgets his old animosity for the French. Holmes falls in love with Nancy, and they plan to get married. But the sensitive youth feels that it will be dishonourable to wed Nancy until he has told Barrymore the truth about his war-time deed. She tells him it will be best to say nothing about it. The remainder of the picture is concerned with the dramatic events which take place before the lovers smooth out their problems. The ending is a happy one.

Holmes’s most recent picture was ‘ Two Kinds of Women,’ which played at the Octagon last week; Barrymore was recently awarded the annual prize of the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences for his distinguished performance in ‘ A Free Soul ’; Nancy Carroll was teamed with Holmes in ‘ The Devil’s Holiday,’ and ‘Stolen Heaven.' Others in the cast arc Tully Marshall, Zasu Fitts, and Lucien Littlefield, ‘ The Broken Lullahy ’ was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, German genius who made ‘ The Love Parade ’ and many other successes. .