SCREEN AND STAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23704, 11 January 1939, Page 13

SCREEN AND STAGE

FROM GREEN ROOM AND STUDIO

' Meet Mildred, the Trained Goldfish “ Mildred,” the film colony’s only trained goldfish, is having a time of it in her new picture, “ There Goes My Heart,” appearing in considerable footage with the stars Fredric March and Virginia Bruce. She first attracted attention in the previous Hal Roach production, “ Merrily We Live,” in which she basked in the spotlight and won a line in the script by populating the small glass enclosure with a school of her own miniatures. “ Mildred ” trained herself, and thereby became the prize goldfish of Hollywood. Her owner, Tony Campanaro, always fed her from one side of the bowl. “ Mildred ” grew to be always on the look-out for Campanaro —and food. Her anticipation of dinner makes her an ideal subject fcr the camera, as she never departs from her vantage point when the camera crew is lined up for action. In “There Goes My Heart,” “Mildred” is the trophy awarded the winners in an ice-skating contest. March and Miss Bruce are the lucky pair, and right there her new adventures begin. Escaping from the crowd, March and Miss Bruce strike out for home via a crowded subway car. When they reach the apartment shared by Miss Bruce and Patsy Kelly, “Mildred’s” perils are not at an end. Patsy’s pet cat, “Bobbie,” shows unusual interest in the new acquisition, and when no one is looking, dips his paw into the water in attempts to dine on the golden “Mildred." . Campanaro is one of the most widely known animal trainers in Hollywood. “Pete,” the famous ring-eyed dog; “Bozo.” the duck; “Dinah,” 16-year-old mule, and "Professor Papi," the monkey who has dominated scenes in “Follow the Fleet” and “Wallaby Jim,” are among the scene-stealers developed under Campanaro’s patience, persistence and kindness.

BY HARLEQUIN

No Frowns from Formby

For nearly 20 years Campanaro has presided over the Hal Roach Ranch, located about two miles from the studio in Culver City, centring his activities on putting dogs, cats, goats, chickens, rabbits, pigeons, sheep and geese through their paces that eventually lead to appearances in motion pictures, “ Some animals are impossible to train,” Campanaro laments, “ but with others it just takes time. Dogs, horses and monkeys learn very quickly. Cat? are difficult, because of their inherent independence.” , , ... Further tribute to Campanaro s skill is seen in “There Goes My Heart, with the appearance of Tony, a pure white cat 'in the role of Bobbie, the feline pet of Patsy Kelly. Tony takes his acting career seriously, and is one of the few animal players having a stand-in.

Grand Theatre

RKO Radio has a treat in store for those who love good down-to-earth comedies. The studio's latest Fred Stone film, “ Quick Money.” is a picture falling into that category. It will be shown at the Grand Theatre today. It gives an accurate picture of small town life, and offers in addition an interesting romantic theme. The characters involved are the Mayor, the banker, the merchants, and others who people small American towns. The plot centres on Stone, as Mayor, and Berton Churchill, a native son who returns after a prolonged absence. Churchill claims that he is a financial wizard and that he has amassed a fortune. The townsmen, with the exception of Stone, rush to entrust their savings to the prodigal son. Stone stands silently by untli the town council decides to invest municipal funds in a resort enterprise Churchill is promoting. Then the Mayor voices strenuous objection, and _is thoroughly snubbed by his constituents. From then on the picture resolves into a battle of wits, ending only after Stone proves Churchill a swindler in what develops into almost a single-handed fight against the entire community. Concurrent with this theme, a gay romance between Dorothy Moore and Gordon Jones is introduced, with Miss Moore as Stone’s daughter' and Jones as a local newspaper reporter. The second feature is “Rainbow on the River.” starring Bobby Breen. This film, which is being presented for a return season, will be warmly welcomed. for it is probably the young singer’s most popular production. It tells, a human story, and the melodies are now all firm favourites. Others in the cast are May Robson. Charles Butterworth. Alan Mowbray, and Benita Hume.

Charles Chaplin once seriously visioned himself in the role of Napoleon; John Barrymore, who played “ Hamlet ’’—and in London—was not satisfied until ho gravitated into comedy parts, and most actors have the desire to be. “ what they ain t. immediately they touch the top rung of success. But that is not the case with the English screen star. George Formby.

He is a comedian first, last, and all the time, and he has no other ambition than to go on being a funny man.

“ I’ve got the face and figure for fun.” he stated recently, “ and that’s the field I’ll stick to. And I like being on the happy side of the fence, too—you get closer to the human side of life yourself and likewise encourage others to get the right slant on things. “Nov/, who has yet met a happy highbrow? Aye, it is better to have made the people laugh with you and at you. than to have left them only the pangs of arty indigestion and the memory of a dark frown! “ Comedy is the true strength of entertainment; it is exhilarating and relaxing—and it’s hard but satisfying work. That’s why I intend to keep to that side of the business exactly as long as my masters, Mr and Mrs Public and Family, see eye to eye with me on the point of what constitutes good humour.” That George Formby should be so emphatically in favour of comedy is not surprising. His own triumph in this realm was presaged by a famuy attachment which saw the name ton the bills of London music halls long before the era of motion pictures. George himself was a vaudevillian of no little note before Basil Dean, direc-

tor of Associated Talking Pictures, Ltd., witnessed his act in a Lancashire variety theatre and immediately selected him as a likely screen type. It was Dean, also, who originally starred Grade Fields, and for his company she made all her pictures prior to accepting a record-salaried engagement with an American studio organisation. On the practical side, George Formby has found the rewards for wit-record-ing companies brings him in an an-

nual sum which ranks him with the world’s highest paid entertainment personalities. His latest film, which has just been previewed in Wellington, is “ It’s in the Air,” which is scheduled for release early in the New Year.

complacent in his dynasty, is played by Henry Kolker, who shows him a smooth, implacable, highly polished tycoon. An engaging portrait is drawn by Lew Ayres of the brother who drinks as a substitute for thought, and to make endurable his dutiful career as a mogul-to-be. Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon play the Potters, a couple who know how to compensate for the ridiculous minutae of life by a stream of casual nonsense. Microphone Trickery

The heroine is trapped in a fiery inferno; around her is a seething writhing mass; roaring flames lick hungrily at her shapely ankles; and, in the distance, preceded by ominous thunder, another wall comes crashing, filling your favourite theatre with a crescendo of ruinous terror. But take a peep backstage whilst the production crew of a "movie” company are filming such a scene. Instead of thunderous noise as the building burns, you will see a nonchalant young man with his right hand held close alongside the microphone, disinterestedly crushing cellophane or brown paper between his fingers. The minor explosions, as he crushes the paper, swell to unbelievable proportions, thanks to the hyper-sensitive string ing of the modern “ movie ” microphone. Chatting with Clive Cross, souna engineer for Cinesound Productions, on the set the other day, he lifted the lid from screendom’s audible terror, and his revelations, rather than destroy the illusion of screen realism entrance one’s admiration for the ingenuity and inventiveness of modern sound control operators. In this day and age of film entertainment, the sound operators and camera crew work in close co-opera-tion, under the guiding hand of the director. At Cinesound, where Ken.

G. Hall is both producer and director, he has Clive Cross “mixing” sound, and George Heath as ace kinematographer. They make an all-Australian team which is responsible for any number of amazing sound and photographic effects. According to Cross, there are many everyday sounds, which, paradoxically, do not sound like what they really are when recorded. For that reason, an engineer must create his own artificial noises to sound to an audience more realistic than the sound of the real thing.

For instance, the roar of an angry surf does not sound half as turbulent as dried peas swished about in a wooden barrel.

The moaning of wintry winds sounds ever so much more eerie when produced by the whirling of steel rods, projecting from a central axle and rotated by a head crank. An aeroplane crash .sounds terrifying when the audible impact of a plane with mother earth is created by plunging a hot soldering iron into a tumbler full of water; and a train signalman would be entitled to look closely at his switches if he heard a wire brush swished rhythmically on a piece of tin to resemble a locomotive.

“We always endeavour to use real sound where possible,” says Clive, “ but where the genuine article is considered lacking, then it is our job to augment it with additional effects.

“That is why, in recording an automobile crash we always crunch a matchbox near the mike after the moment of impact. Otherwise the sound would die too quickly for screen purposes, and the terrible grinding and crunching would be missed. “ One of the most difficult sounds to record on movie film is that of the villain taking a punch right in the solar plexus,” he says. “If he’s hit too hard, production is delayed until he recovers; and if the hero pulls his punch, then the microphone will find him out.

“So we pack the villain’s stomach with a half-filled hot-water bottle. Beneath it and next to his skin is a thick padding of felt to minimise the blow. “And when he eventually takes the right cross to the body it sounds vicious enough to please any audience.” But the sound operators met their Waterloo during current production of “Mr Chedworth Steps Out,” which stars Cecil Kellaway, and is now nearing completion. It was necessary to record the meow of a cat for a particular sequence in the film. So the best feline impersonators in the studio — property boys, electricians, cameramen, even Ronald Whelan, the assistant director —grouped around the mike and each took turns to give their version of a cat’s “meow.” But despite their efforts, their enthusiastic audition brought a sorrowful “ N.G.” from Clive Cross. Result—the purchase of a cat from the R.S.P.C.A., and the pathetic picture of a sound operator sitting, microphone in hand, waiting for a “meow.” He waited two hours. But that does not often happen. Indeed, “what the eye does'not see, the heart will not grieve about ” and “ all is not what it sounds ” are two adages which can quite easily be applied to moviemaking. But do not let it bother you. Whatever goes on behind the scenes is for one reason, and one only—to give you and me the utmost in honest-to-goodness screen entertainment. St. James Theatre Russell Hayden, the romantic hero of Zane Grey’s “The Mysterious Rider,” is so well known everywhere as William Boyd’s saddle mate in “Hopalong Cassidy ” stories that most of his friends have come to call him “ Lucky.” This handsome son of the Old West has been “lucky” in real life, too. He is one of the West’s few native ranchers who have succeeded in becoming stars in outdoor action pictures. Born and brought up on his father’s vast ranch in the heart of the California cattle country. Hayden entered his first picture “just for the fun of it” while on a Hollywood vacation, and has been in the film capital ever since. In Paramount’s “ The Mysterious Rider,” which comes on Friday to the St. James Theatre, he plays a young foreman who helps keep his sweetheart’s ranch out of the hands of her crooked guardian. Michael Brooke may be just another motion picture actor in Hollywood, but when he steps out London’s highest society it is as “ Charles Guy Fulke Greville, Baron Brooke, seventh Earl of Warwick.” Brooke, who bears one of the proudest titles in all England, deserted Piccadilly for Hollywood because he believes that every man, no matter how great his fortune, should follow the profession he enjoys best. I His career includes an education at Eton and Sandhurst, Great Britain’s West Point, a term as lieutenant in the British Army and big game hunting in the innermost regions of Africa, India and Afghanistan. After making his film debut, appropriately enough, as a British officer in Cecil B, De Mille’s “ The Buccaneer,” he appeared in “ The Big Broadcast of 1938 ” and “ Bulldog Drummond’s Peril.” In “ Bulldog Drummond in Africa,” Paramount’s new thriller opening on Friday at the St James Theatre, Brooke has the role of a member of an international spy ring.

Choice for Charlie Chan Role After a search of several months, Twentieth Century-Fox has found the actor to carry on the famous “ Charlie Chan ” role, played so long and successfully by the late Warner Oland. The new Charlie Chan will be Sidney Toler, distinguished stage and screen character actor. Toler was not one of the hundreds interviewed and tested originally for the role. T t was while his most recent picture was being screened for editing that executive producer Sol M. Wurtzel was struck by Toler’s resemblance to the “ Chan ” created by Warner Oland. After subsequent screen testing, Darryl F. Zanuck agreed with Wurtzel’s opinion, and Toler was signed. He will make his first appearance as “ Chan ” in “ Charlie Chan in Honolulu.” “ Holiday ”: The idea that money and the accumulation of wealth are not the main purposes of life is expressed in the comedy-romance coming to the Regent next Friday. “ Holiday,” »the Columbia adaptation of the Philip Barry Broadway stage hit, is a change from the whimsies of modern times. With Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn costarred. the production vibrates with life. The film is packed with humour instead of silly antics. Its situations are the normal ones of reality, and not the inane jocularities of the recent crop of madcap comedies. “ Holiday ” represents a rebellious socialite who knows a real man when she sees one, and a* young man who insists upon making his own way in life rather than marry a million-dollar heiress. The problems of “Holiday” are very real to the film’s characters, but they are revealed with typical George Cukor deftness, with humour and honesty. Cary Grant is cast as the young man who plans to earn enough money to retire while he is still young, so that he can take a “ Holiday ” long enough to think things over. Mr Grant’s performance is one of sincerity and polish. Miss Hepburn, who with easy grace slips into any character entrusted to her, gives Linda Seton reality as a caste-shackled girl in whose ultimate triumph anyone can feel joy. Dons Nolan is the girl with whom Cary romps into romance: charming, but imbued with the idea that family and romance should be her twin lodestars. In a part that might have been thankless she makes her conventional intransigence seem merely an error of unreflective youth. The elder Seton,

“Little Miss Broadway"

It seemed like vaudevillians’ “Old Home ” week on the “ Little Miss Broadway ” set at Twentieth CenturyFox. Director Irving Cummings has a soft spot in his heart for vaudeville. As a former stage player himself, Cummings knows the plight of the variety headliners, but not until he was assigned to direct the new Shirley Temple musical did he have a chance to do anything about it. The script of “Little Miss Broadway” calls for an hotel full of out-of-work variety artists, and that was all that Cummings needed. The cast reads like a “ who’s who ” of the “ two-a-dayers.” In the featured cast is Jimmy Durante, who’s been in the “biz’’ for years. Then there is El Brendel, who was a high favourite from Saskatchewan to Keokuk. Eddie Collins toured the variety circuits for 13 years until he got his chance to model for “ Dopey,” most popular of the seven dwarfs Donald Meek was in vaudeville when it used to be called “ variety.” Ten years ago George Barbier toured the circuits in sketches. Syd Saylor is a former tight-rope walker with 17 years’ balancing experience. Hank Mann toured the Sullivan and Considine circuits until 1913, when he became one of the original “ Keystone Cops.” Another member of the " Keystone ” force was Heinie Conklin, who vaudevilled for 10 years And so talk of the old days and the glories of the Palace Theatre in New York, mecca of all variety people, filled the set. , George Murphy, Durante. Phylis Brooks, and Edna Mae Oliver are featured in Shirley's supporting cast. Six new song hits by Bullock and Spina provide the sparkling score for “Little Miss Broadway.” which opens shortly at the Octagon Theatre.

Film Topics Do you know what message is given in Morse at the beginning of every R.K.0.-Radio picture? The answer: “An R.K.0.-Radio picture is coming.” “ These modern cowboys are not men,” said Tom Mix; “ they’re mannequins.” More than 2,000,000 dollars has been budgeted for the production of “ Stanley and Livingstone,” which began production at Twentieth Century-Fox studios on December 1. Tyrone Power and Loretta Young have been tentatively suggested for the leading roles. Background scenes have already been screened in Africa, when Mrs Martin Johnson assisted Otto Brower.

A company has been formed to produce four pictures a year, two starring Mae West and two starring other people. It is said that three San Francisco banks have financed the company to the tune of 5,000,000 dollars. Mae West is vice-president of the company, and the present plan is to star her in a 1,500,000 dollar production, “Catherine the Great.” All the Heifetz sequences in “The Restless Age ” have the musician playing the violin. Jascha Heifetz appears with a huge symphony orchestra in the new picture.

Warners has decided definitely, to star Errol Flynn in both “ Dodge City ” and “ The Sea Hawk ” —it was at first thought that Ronald Colman would star in “ Dodge City." Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, who appear together in “ The Sisters,” will have the leading roles in “ Queen Elizabeth.”

The Hardy Family series is increasing at a great rate. “ The Hardys Ride High ” is to go into production immediately following the completion of “ The Hardys Out West.” “ Yellow Jack ”

Motion pictures' most modern heroes, scientific martyrs, again are glorified in “Yellow Jack,” starring

Robert Montgomery and Virginia Bruce. The picture opens at the Empire Theatre Next Friday. The story, a relation of the incidents attendant upon Major Walter Reed’s commission to Cuba after the Spanish-American War in an effort to halt inroads made by yellow fever, tells of the heroism of the little band of men who dared death to save humanity. Romance enters the picture in the attraction of Robert Montgomery to Virginia Bruce, one of the two nurses taken from Washington to Cuba. The picture is based on the stage play of the same title, written by Sidney Howard in collaboration with Paul de Kruif, author of “ Microbe Hunters.” and was directed by George B. Seitz Included in the important cast are Lewis Stone. Andy Devine, Henry Hull. Charles Coburn, Buddy Ebsen. Henry O’Neill. Janet Beecher. William Henry, Alan Curtis. Sam Levene, Stanley Ridges, Phillip Terry, and Jonathan Hale. Careful attention was devoted to reproduction of authentic scenes of army medical encampments, field hospitals. and service equipment of the period. Colonel James MacDonald, who served during the Spanish-Ameri-can War, served as technical expert for the picture. Lewis Stone, a sergeant during the war. also acted in a technical capacity as well as portraying the role of Major Reed. Strand Theatre “Gangs of New York,” the new Republic production which is opening on Friday at the Strand Theatre, brings with it one of the finest dramatic casts that has ever appeared in this kind of film. Charles Bickford is in the starring role, in fact he plays two parts: one as a policeman and the other as a murderous mob-leader. He gives a fine performance as one expects from him after his 10 years of work on the dramatic stage, and his roles in many pictures, such as “ Dynamite.” “ This Day and Age.” “The Plainsman.” etc. The two feminine leads are played by Ann Dvorak and Wynne Gibson, others in the cast include Alan Baxter, Fred Kohler, sen., John Wray and Maxie Rosenbloom. “ Gangs of New York ’’ is an unusual and exciting story of a detective and his many adventures because he closely resembles an infamous gang leader. He poses as the gangster while that individual is in prison, in order to round up the whole gang. Stormy scenes at a world peace conference were staged at Pinewood studios for the new A.T.P. film made under the direction of veteran Sinclair Hill. The picture is “ Midnight Menace,” starring Fritz Kortner, the continental character actor and Charles Farrell, popular Hollywood star, the feminine lead being played by Australia’s own Margaret Vyner. Graham Stevens, political reporter on the Daily World, while returning from the peace conference, rings his sister’s fiance, Brian Grant, an artist cartoonist on the same paper, telling him he has a scoop, and mentioning midnight. November 5. “If we are alive by then.” On the way home Stevens is killed. Grant and Mary Stevens, reporter fiancee, follow up clues which point to Mr Peters, a Corovian Minister, as the leader of the espionage agents out to bomb Lqndon and destroy the morale of the British,

Director Explains Comedy Problem Laughs are funny things. In phrasing this remark, a movie director has no intention of being facetious.’ The director is Frank Strayer, one of Hollywood’s ablest, and a past master in the field of comedy. Strayer is currently directing “ Blondie.” This Columbia production brings to the screen the amusing characters of the famous comic strip. Penny Singleton is Blondie. Arthur Lake plays Dagwood. and little Larry Simms is Baby Dumpling. “Some time ago,” Strayer explained his remark, “I directed a comedy that rippled with bright dialogue. In fact, it rippled too much. The audience laughed so long that various places •in the ensuing dialogue were lost. With the lost dialogue went portions of the story which the audience should have heard.

“That taught me a lesson. A short time later I made a similar picture. This time the laughs were carefully spaced. 1 inserted silent scenes to follow the biggest punch lines. Well, those scenes became doubly silent when the audience didn’t laugh as expected.” Now the director thinks he has found the happy medium. He has stopped “ spotting ” his laughs. He lets them

rise where they may, after first making sure that his main story line is altogether visual. “ Then,” as Strayer explained, “if you can’t hear the story because the fellow in the next seat guffaws, you can still see it.”

Mayfair Theatre “ Green Light,” best-selling novel for two years, and now translated to the screen as a Cosmopolitan production, has been booked by the Mayfair Theatre for to-day. Errol Flynn has the role of Dr Newell Paige, a young

surgeon who sacrifices his career to save that of an older doctor. Costarred with him is the lovely Anita Louise as Phyllis Dexter, for whose mother’s death Paige has assumed the blame. The two fall instantly in love, but when Phyllis finds out who he is she refuses to see him again. Phyllis is made to realise that Paige is innocent and she finally goes to him in the Rocky Mountains, where he is risking his life in the search for a vaccine that will control the dreaded spotted fever. Meanwhile the older doctor clears Paige’s name. and. reunited at last, he and Phyllis are married.

Drama in the life of an actor on a “ movie ” set often equals, in colour, the character he portrays in the film story. One performer who fits into this classification is George Humbert who has the role of an Italian cafe manager in Universal’s romantic newspaper comedy, “A Girl With Ideas, ’ which starts to-day at the Mayfair

Theatre. As “Toni,” genial operator of the little restaurant used as a rendezvous by Walter Pidgeon, Wendy Barrie. Kent Taylor, and other newspaper people, he demonstrates the talent which brought him choice roles in three Pulitzer Prize plays. Born In Italy, George Humbert attended the naval academy, and served valiantly in the Boxer uprising of 1907, and the first Italian campaign in Ethopia in 1897, as an officer. Coming to America to take up an acting career, Humbert soon became known on the stage, and has appeared in 107 films as a Hollywood character actor. “ Room Service " By a false moustache and eyebrows, an Italian dialect, and a blonde wig, millions of film fans all over the world know the famous Marx Brothers trio, currently in “ Room Service,” which comes on Friday to the State Theatre. What the three would look like without their familiar make-up is something few fans ever considered. Chico and Harpo, in particular, look alike Many of their friends cannot tell them apart, and in their youth everyone took them for twins. Both somewhat, resemble Groucho. One result of this physical similarity is that during their stage careers two of the brothers would often change costumes and make-up. and each play the other’s part, just for the fun of it. In pictures, however the three confine themselves strictly

to their own roles, and their own carefully worked-out brands of insanity. Harpo’s silent pantomime technique resulted from his first stage appearance in his ’teens when he was suddenly sent to join two of his brothers in an act. Making up his own actions as he went along, he went through the number without speaking a word, and adopted this style for his subsequent appearances. Groucho’s fast talking and mannerisms, along with his false moutaches. make many screen patrons consider him the oldest member of the trio group; actually he is the youngest. Chico’s dialect and his appearance have led many to believe him of Italian origin. He is the oldest Marx, and was a professional pianist before' he joined his brothers. He is also rated as one of the best bridge player’s in the United States, and is author of a text book on the game. The three brothers are expert cm a half dozen instruments. Groucho’s favourite is the guitar, though he has not played it in public for years, and between them the trio could play most of the instruments in an orchestra. The Great Nicola The Great Nicola, woxdd-famous magician, with his new troupe of mystifiers, is to open a short engagement at His Majesty’s Theatre next Wednesday. Nicola is accompanied by a score of assistants and technicians and over 150 tons of illusions and scenic effects. Although Nicola retains some of his old favourite tricks, in the main his programme consists of almost all new mysteries and novelties, and his scenic effects are claimed to be the most lavish ever seen with a show of this description. To enumerate some of Nicola’s new features, he mentions as his supreme achievement a magical playette entitled “The Wizard’s Dream” —no fewer than a dozen baffling illusions are crowded into this one scene with such swiftness and deftness that even close students of magic art have been unable to fathom it. “Jigsaw Masterpieces,” “The Prison Escape,” “A B C Mystery Blocks,” “ Iron Maiden,” and “ Magical Surgex'y” are some of the highlights of Nicola’s new programme. Nicola is supported by a cast of capable entertainers, all of them making their first public appearance in this country. Among the outstanding, Nicola mentions Miss Lucila Roberts, a psychic marvel known as “The Girl with the X-Ray eyes,” so penetrating that it is claimed that she can read one’s very thoughts. She has also made predictions of world events.

A 1 De Clercq, billed as the “Last of the Hollywood Hillbillies,” presents numbers he has given in the big Hollywood productions. Big Ben, “The Pig Comique.” presented by Sherry and Alf, is perhaps the most clever and laughable bit of tom-foolery in the programme. Of course, there will be “ Dobsky,” as the Nicola show would not be complete without this awkward assistant, but this time the part is played by one of Broadway’s top comedians, Alf Berg, who is said to keep the programme full of laughs from start to finish.

Merton Hodge Attacked It seems incredible that dramatic critics of leading daily newspapers in London and in the provinces should be on duty at a first night of a dramatic version of a classic which they never had read (writes our London correspondent on December 2). This is what happened in London this week for the premiere of Dr Merton Hodge’s stage arrangement of Olive Schreiner’s well-known book, “The Story of an African Farm.” One of these official writers had the effrontery in his remarks to state: “ Beginning with the great advantage of never having read Olive Schreiner’s novel, which has been famous for 50 years, I do not hesitate to say that Dr Merton Hodge has made a confoundedly bad adaptation of it.” Perhaps, if he takes the trouble to read the book he will have the courtesy to modify his unjust comment. Another one, more modest, wrote: “ On my way to the theatre I was glad that I had not read the Olive Schreiner novel: I would comb to the play undisturbed by previous impressions. On my way back I realised that a few previous impressions might have been useful in deciding what exactly Dr Merton Hodge’s play is about.” All people are entitled to form their own veiws about stage presentations, and most of them do. It is well that they are not all. or always, influenced by critics who do not know their subject. The uninformed, in this instance, are unfortunately in the majority. Dr Hodge had a very difficult task to perform. and only those who have refreshed their memories recently—the book costs a mere florin—can appreciate how closely the adaptation follows the story, which itself is often a little vague, for the impressions are so frequently delicate silhouettes. Fortunately for Merton Hodge, it would seem that dramatic critics, like economists, rarely agree. A very different opinion was formed by the Manchester Guardian. After a warning that “ plays adapted from famous novels usually give us bare bones of the book, with some inventive theatncal padding and telescoping of events by the adapter,” the critic added: “ Dr Merton Hodge has accomplished the feat of giving us not only the bones but the flesh of the book, with hardly any padding and very little telescoping. . . . Much of the books charm comes through the translation to the stage, and not a little of its distinction since Mr Hodge has rcnroduced almost every line of the dialogue that can be spoken by players and some fevy that cannot. Here is, as has been said, both the flesh and the bones. Nothing is wanting save the spirit. But it has to be confessed that it was the spirituality of this tale rather than its plot which in 1883 so captivated minds as wide apart as those of George Meredith and Dilke, Gladstone and Arthur Symons. . . . Those under 30 who would be ashamed to take up so old-fashioned a best seller may be encouraged by the effectiveness of’.this dramatisation to change their minds’ now and read what the playwright has had to omit.” . Enid Corral, in the Daily Sketch, after recalling that Olive Schreiner said that she could not bear the book to be tampered with, declared: “Well Merton Hodge has not tampered With it. It is the most sensitive translation from one medium into another that 1 have ever seen. Even Olive Schreiner herself would have to admit that the spirit (of the book), has been preserved whole. So this cannot be the kind of play we’ve been used to seeing.”-. That is a just criticism. If those unread bellicose critics who damned the adaptation had paid some attention to the book it should have become clear to them that an almost mid-Vic-torian story, faithfully adapted, would never possess any of the slickness with which the stage is fed to-day.

The most constructive criticism came from The Times. “Dr Merton Hodge.’ it was stated, “has assumed in the playgoer too much knowledge of the famous novel, and, while arousing expectation that the principal structure of the narrative will depend on the girl Lyndall, has described her emotional life not visibly on the stage, but by reference. “ We are told that she went away to Bloemfontein, had a baby that died, and retunled home; Here was the dramatist’s chance. When her lover followed her and she, refusing to marry him or any man, was yet willing to return to him. the scene between them might have passionately communicated Lyndall’s defiant intransigeance and the reasons for it. Instead, the scene is no more than a note, and the next we see of Lyndall is her death. “ Dr Pledge has, perhaps, been handicapped by a desire to give representation to the many aspects of the novel. It is a perilous loyalty which, if pressed, leads always to the same conclusion, that only a novel simple in structure can be submitted without destructive loss to the economics of the stage, and that, in any case, what has already been well done in one medium cannot without peril be repeated in another'.” In view of the differing criticisms it will be interesting to follow the progress of the play. The cast is strong. Commenting upon it, the Daily Express said that it gave a “ combined acting performance that you will not see equalled in London. And Basil Dean is in his best form. His production has the right air of serenity. He has a moon that really rises and laughing stars that really twinkle.”

Miss Curigwen Lewis, as Lyndall, and Miss Alexis France, as Em, the step-sisters, bear the chief burden of the acting. Miss Mary Clare is the vulgar, selfish Boer woman, Tant Sannie, and Mr Aubrey Dexter the oily, bullying, scheming Dickensian hypocrite, Bonoparte Blenkins. Valdo, the timid youth,/ is played by Mr Richard Newton, and Uncle Waldo by Frank Birch. There is not a weak link among them. It is possible that with this strong cast the play may thrive on the sharp divisions of opin- . ion expressed. The staging effects are unusual and attractive. Most interesting is the “doll’s house” view of the farmhouse. The stage is divided into four rooms: Ihe sitting room, the girls’ bedroom, dm loft, and Uncle Otto’s outhouse. With this arrangement two scenes are often acted together; the girls listening to Blenkins pc'soning Tant Sannie’s mind against Uncle Otto; their conversation interrupted by the shrieks of Valdo as he is flogged by Blenkins: and Tant Sannie overhearing Bonoparte’s declaration of “love” to a more promising bride than herself. The scene on the kopje, with the farmhouse in the distance, is illuminated by a full moon sliding slowly towards Ihe heavens from behind the distant mountains, Lyndall’s death is watched in the half section of a trek wagon. Film Topics The first of the Michael Balcon films, “The Gaunt Stranger,” with Sonnie Hale, Louise Henry, Wilfred Lawson, John Longdon, Alexander Knox. Peter Croft. Patrick Barr and Patricia. Roc was recently trade shown in London. The film was directed by Walter Forde. Evelyn Laye, Frank Lawton’s wife, will play the principal boy in “Sleeping Beauty,” at the Birmingham Theatre Royal this Christmas. Sabu, the young Indian star, has been immortalised by having a new silk stocking shade named after him. Antonio Moreno has been signed with Paramount for a featured role in “Ambush,” which stars Gladys Swarthout and Lloyd Nolan.

Ina Claire, formerly married to the late John Gilbert, will appear with Gladys Cooper’s American husband, Philip Merivale. in “ Generals Neec Beds.” Jean Arthur has been borrowed from Columbia by Hal Roach to do “Water Gypsies." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announces that the following players have been selected to appear in “Stand Up and Fight Robert Taylor, Wallace Beery, Florence Rice, Helen Broderick, Charley Grapewin, John Qualen and Clin- s ' ton Rosemont. The picture, is now in production.

Alexander Korda flew into Hollywood recently under the name of Saunders, the name of his valet. The reaso* it is said, was to visit Merle Oberon.