Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-05-19
"The Crimson Abb"

Reference to THE Crimson Alibi"
as an lold-fashioned thriller may be
misleading. 1t Is thriller, but it is
not old fashioned, except in the sense
that it appeals directly to a robust,
normal sense of interest without re-
sort to fads and fippancies and with
out any suggestion which might bc
construed as purient. Grswsoms
enough In places. it Is still human,
crime portrayed in the prologue with
SO much impressive suggestion and
SO little detail calls into play sys-
tenn of reasoning, that would be we'll
worth the attentive study Of any
police department.
1t is a detective play and brings
back the breathless suspense that
marked first acquaintance with
Gabcriau or Anna Katherine Green.
The story is primarily a magazine
product from the pen of Octavus Roy
Cohen. George Broadhurst saw its
possibilities as q drama and made
the adaptation. A week in Baltimore
past. Az to it's future, the posi-
bi1fties are boundless. It has more
tense moments than Within the Law
t,r1"On Trial" The detective; story
Is. q thing apart from fiction Of the
general sort. It depends, first Of all,
on nicely OF ejaculation in the mat
ter of plot, structure and an ac-
curate measurement of how Tar the
mind of the most alert observer may
be deceived. There is SO much mech
anism needed that it is difficult for
the most expert writer's of det>ctive
fiction to make the characters vital
and sympathetic.
The characters in the Crimson Abb,
ranging through the social scale from
the unwoffdly4 professor Of modern
languages to the ESCAPED convict, are
made really human. What they say
and do is apparently the result Of
natural purpose or emotion. and not
obviously for tho sake of speeding
the plot along. 1t Is not, in fact. a
single plot. II IL an assemblage of
plots. Each character has something
to conceal which brings him under
the crime. The vindication OF each
solves life story that is drama
unto itself. i-~-
The detective is one that it is =
pleasure to meet. He has No bad
IA otis and no boastful esoisfn that
needs palliation by the suiss -, Of {
good fellow as played by Harrison
Hunter, with q heart affair Of his
cwn whose happy solution is one OF
the things that make the elimination
of the story sufficiently satisfying to
compensate for the hours Of nerve-
shaking suspense. The ordinary de.
when the explanation arrives. This
Crimson Alfbi" daExles the interest
right up to the final explosion Of plot
and counterpart. As the evidence I'M
folded, the finger of accusation point
ed at one person after smother. The
audience in its excitement became
audible in suggestions as to the guilty
one, Nobody guessed the slayer Of
the old man whose sordid viciousness
had provided motives for his murder
from so many different angles. And
it is not q favor to expose the secret
in advance to friend who may nave
an opportunity to see the play.
CONSPICUOUS in company excep-
t.onally rich in acting material were
the veteran Will H. Thompson as
Prof. Bristol, a stage creation of most
responsible merit: Robert barrat, as
the impetuous. but manly nephew:
George Graham as the butler whose
self-enacement is broken GOWN by
stress of emotion; Robert Kelly the
escaped convict, who had been wrong
fully convicted, and Bertha Mann as
his self-sacrificing wife:
The emotional scenes which fell to
Mss Mahn's share were enacted With
genuine dramatic power. A pleasant
ripple of real comedy was contributed
by linda Palmer as the Internationally
communicative housekeeper. The
staging Of the play is most irnpor-
,tant factor in the maintenance of
prolonged interest. It is excellently
attended to by Mrs Lillian Trimble
Bradley. The play IS uncompromis-
ingly a thriller. but it is no a shock
err. In SO large and complex an enter
prise cruditfes are inevitable at this
stage of It's development, hut they are
crudities which should be easily
eliminated at a single rehearsal