BRILLIANT SPY DRAMA

Evening Star, Issue 21934, 22 January 1935, Page 11

BRILLIANT SPY DRAMA

• OPERATOR 13’ FOR REGENT The romantic days of American feudalism and the wealth and brilliance ot splendid Southern State mansions, with their attendant darkle melodies, arc featured in ‘Operator 13,’ which wi start on Friday at the Regent. Against this background unfolds the drama ot a spy story, the tale ot how Operator No. 13 worked underground for the interests of the North against those of the slavesupporting South in the American Civil Wav and the breathless escapes she had and the risks she took together go to make the picture as thrilling as it is. At one stage in her part as a spy, Marion Davies acts as a mulatto trom .Martinique. The picture abounds m thrilling moments, in scenes of tense drama and vivid romance. As a spy, she causes the death of hundreds of men, and among them the man who was to have been wedded that very night to the daughter of the house in which she is staying as a guest. There is a difference between good acting and a good story. One may be present without the‘other. But both are combined in ‘ Operator 13,’ and through it all Marion Davies rises supreme. Then also there is Gary Cooper, the Southerner who falls in love with one whom ho afterwards finds to be a spy. Tne drama in the scene of his discovery is moving indeed. The Four Mills Brothers are the negro singers. They arc almost worth hearing alone.