Evening star., 1925-09-15
Observation-Disclosures"


Surprising beauty, tremendous pow
er and stately dignity-these are the
attributes of the three-act play "Ac-
cused," presented for the first time
in America at the Shubert Belasco
Theater last night. Two incompara-
bleS, one immortelle-David Belasco,
l.. II. Sothern and Ernest BrieuX-
pool their talents and achieve a tri-
umph that must be outstanding in ca
reers whose every step has been tri-
umphal.
Every glowing word begets an
other still more vivid" says Sothern
in the third act of Accused" and one
could wish that it were true in at
tempting an appraisal of the manifold
merit of the production.
An audience of the type that would
be drawn to d BelaSco- Sothern pro
duction could ordinarily be assumed
to represS its ecstasy over artistic
achievement, yet last nights crowd
ed house was swept away and tu-
multuous applause during the entire
intermisSion between the second and
third acts continued unabated until
Mr.. Belasco made the speech for
which the thronS was clamoring.
One cannot accord honors to any
one of the great trio that gave "Ac-
cused" to the American stage. Brieux,
Belasco and Sothern share them
evenly. One can treat 1t only enron
ologically. In that treatment, NJ.
BrieuX, its creator, comes first
The playwright, one of the 40
immortelles of France, has fashioned
a glorious play of Flaubertian pre-
cision around a theme of mystery
into which he has woven. as only
true genius can, a problem OF pro
fessional conscience. One may see
the play as mystery and ma II en-
joyable or one may see in 1t an IN
finitely greater theme and find it art
at its best. II is to the credit of last
nights audience that it found the
moral theme underlying the mystery
story.
NJ. BrieuX has taken occasion In
several of his plays to expose some or
the weaknesses of the system or JUS
tce that society has created. Ac-
cused' dwells on the ethical perspect-
i've of the legal profession. 1t does
not use ridicule as a bludgeon. NJ.
Brieux is far too deft. He contents
himself with laying open as master
surgeon the circumstances that beget
the distortion of which he complains.
BelascC's achievement adds another
bright cnapter to the story or MS
lustrous career. He has given to Nj.
BrieuX'S work the atmosphere ana the
Interpretation thai it demands. That
is a task for the Belasco genius and
it's accomplishment is typlcally
Belasco.
Sothern has been saved for the last.
He is the interpreter, the extraordi-
nary Sothern who deals with an emo
tional role with repression with
the touch of a great artist at his best.
DESERVING Shakespeare, in which he
made the greatest stage conquest of
decades, he makes a greater conquest.
The story of Accused is old, made
new in the hands of three masters.
\ French woman of the upper classes
is accused of numbering her husband.
In the face of almost certain convic-
ton, she girds herself in an impreg
nable silence and refuses to affirm or
deny any of the circumstances that
point TO her as the murderesS. Soth-
ern, as de Verron. her attorney, and
mad with an unvoiced love for her,
tries to wiring from her some admis-
sion that will aid him in convincing a
jury of her innocence, of which he is
certain. She stonily refuses. Honor
is finn if it must pay with life.
De Verron's professional record.
built on honor and rewarded with
national recognition that brings to his
clients an assumption of innocence in
the face of French law that assumes
guilt until innocence is proved, is the
only weapon he has to use to save
her Before the trial he is apprised
of her guilt, but not her motive, and
his professional integrity impels him
to attempt to give up the case. His