Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-02
SHERMAN WOULD HAVE
MADE A BAD REVIEWER
War, Says "Under Fire" at For
rest, Is the Handmade
of Hymen

Now we know what war Is for. 1t Is
not the survival OF the fittest They don't
II isn't conflict Of kulturs. Were all In
for Germany's now no matter who wins
IT isn't world-domination. or place in tho
sun, or q wicked Kaiser or plain onery
human scrappiness. It's something so
much simpler and sweeter AS the poet
has IL, It's love The Great War may
crack few stupid crowns or it may crush
the hope OF mankind But. anyway, IL
mas got Ethel Willoughby and Captain
Redmond married!
In which regard, Under Fire" proves
the present conflict TO he the same sort
OF affair as our own Civil War. judged bv
Secret Service" II doesn't bother with
mere history II talks about the Allies"
when they were still the Entente. IL
has British trenches neatly dug and mum.
bered before the news Of Beigium's in.
vasion reaches the Belgian town of Co1ir.
voisier. II dumps into those same
trenches In those same early days young
officer who hadn't even enlisted-let alone
been trained-i0 days before But these
are little things. To the glorious past Of
nelodrama the new piece at the Forrest
is indefatgably true. There is a good
spy and bad spy and lady spy-the
eternal triangle of war plays The wicked
one says, I'VE must communicate with
our friends. the Germans" The fair one
says, Think what I, woman, and
the "Hun"-who happens also p be her
secret and temporary husband-into let.
ting her play a sort of doube-spy game
against his own side. And the handsome
one amends his lady's For King and
Country" with a For your
As all three spies know each others
Identity and all three get behind the Ger
man lines in the second act the natukal
result is good many violent moments of
conformation, accusation and hand-to-
hand encounters. They make the middle
act varied and exciting. The last is
shorter and depends for its punch on two
little things. One is the saving of Trench
Gland so the English army and the
whole Allied cause-by the arrival of the
good spy on top of the bad spy with in
side information about the very obvious
fact that Kluck is sweeping down on
Paris The other Is glimpse of trench |
life, shrapnal bombardments and the |
wrecking of the trench by a bomb from !
an aeroplane. Naturally this has the |
interest of novelty. But II might have |
been more effective IL the German search
light hadn't shone through the canvas at |
the top of the proscenium and the explo-
sion hadn't echoed itself into the tapping
of boards as the scenery doubled up. If
the management is interested in this line
of reform, by the way, 1t might wash the
first act setting.
Mr.. Courtenay manages to forget his as
sumed Irish accent when he talks German
spy-language, and generally takes the
heroic part. Mr. Kingsford and Mr. Tharp
are delightfuly English, and Miss Heming
and Miss Moore just as pretty as they
can be. Mr. Morgan does n good imita-
tlon of Frank Craven's comic relief war
Mr. Robinson doubles
as well as any of the rest. very long
cast does n lot to make this always
amusing melodrama quite thrilling at mo-
ments. 1t would probably seem n good
deal more thrilling If the Great War
weren't much too serious an affair for
Mr.. Megrues lady.spies and comic war
The Sunday advertising of Under Fire"
carried the cryptic paradox: Not pro-
Ally. Not pro-German. Not Neutral"
Considered in a certain light the piece it
self Is: Not melodrama. Not comedy.
Not play. It's a leg show Half a
iozen German soldiers do the stork-salute
very other minute in the second act. and
he whole German army goose-steps
through Belgium This
must have been one of those atrocities we :
heard so much about. X NJ J