CLEVER BRITISH COMEDY

Evening Star, Issue 21662, 6 March 1934, Page 9

CLEVER BRITISH COMEDY

ARMY RED TAPE SATIRISED With' the possible of the small percentage (that always exists) of unimaginative slaves to official shibboleths whom nothing can change, everybody enjoys a satire on military red tape, especially when that satire bubbles with fun,in situations that are frankly absurd. Imagination boggles at what would happen officially did a hard-boiled American picture director actually dare to import a . lady assistant and , a complete filming unit into a British military barracks, with the declared intention of “ putting the British Army on the map.” But this is the theme on , which Gaumont-British Pictures have made ' Orders is Orders,’ basing the picture on the play of the same name, which enjoyed a phenomenally successful run in London. It was the joint work of lan Hay and Anthony Armstrong, both noted authors and playwrights. The fact that they were both soldiers must also have been o £ inestimable value in producing this exceptionally clever bit of fooling, of which the screen' version is perhaps even more riotously funny. Nor does the brilliant satire stop with the army. It covers the methods of film producers in generous measure. The result is, a perfect gallery of character portraits on the broad lines farcical comedy lays down. Such roles demanded stars of more or less specialised experience. Plot and dialogue were too good for ordinary assignment. Final selection, therefore, fell upca James Gleason and Charlotte Greenwood for the American producer and his assistant, and upon Cyril Maude for the British colonel in command of the barracks. __ _ Miss Greenwood and Mr are not only accomplished comedy artists of the first rank, but are also 100 pea cent. Americans. Mr Maude’s reputation as an actor is world-wide, he is British: through and through, and in his part of . the colonel is simply'delicious. Aiding this-trio of high-speed fun-makers, are lan Hunter, Jane C.arr 4 Donald Calthrop, Cedric Hardwicke, and many more. ‘ Orders is Orders • opens at the Grand Theatre on Friday*