Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-03
The Weeks Attractions in Local Thedters
Reviews Of New Photoplays and Stage Productions

NEWNIAN-"ArOund South America.
Before what has come to be a tradi
tional audience, which follows hin
wherever he goes, E. M. Newman gavI
his third travel talk of the season yes
terday afternoon at the National Thea
ter. His topic was Around South
America" and for those blase person.
who think that such a trip would b'
void of interest, there should be spe-
cial showing of these pictures, which
are, to say the least, replete with beauty
as well as with wonders
The Panama Canal, the jumping-oh
place OF the voyage, although picto-
rally familiar to almost everybody, Is
always of interest on account of it.
endless locks and waterways. This slim
stretch of water was the gateway
through which the ship passed to reach
the west coast of South America. Once
there, passing along the less inhabited
portion of the Southern Hemisphere
whose people-in Peru especially
seem far from the socially dapper Bra
zilians, one was shown last week the
highest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca
was reached and that weird capital, La
Paz, which perches serenely on top OF
the world.
One of the more interesting features
Straits of Magellan, through which the
ship passed amid scenery that matches,
II 1t does not Surpass, Switzerland, as
far as glaciers are concerned. There
are smoking volcanoes also, which any
traveller will tell you are not to be
found on the icy slopes Of the Swiss re-
pubic. Going up the east coast, APP
pear succession of cataracts, water
falls, such as the famous Falls of the
1CfIazr Hro11xy fI1a
try, with the port of Manoas, the start
ing point for many of the expeditions
that pry into the country of the
Amazon.
Apart from the many extraordinary
illustrations of animal life that Mr..
Newman showed, along with man
eating fish, brightly plumaged birds
and animals that make living for the
average human rather precarious, there
were aspects of the more civilized parts
Of South America, such as the archi-
lecture and the customs of the people
which provided more than stimulating
afternoon. E. M.
METROPOLITAN t,,T The e. pic nc
The Sacred Flame" Metropoli-
week, THE Sacred Flame, !" is, according
70 the advertisement, so delicate in
theme that we do not recommend it to
children"
Consequently, as might have been ex-
pected, in a few minutes after 1.-THE
Sacred Flame" opened on Saturday the
1oobies were damned with eager Adde'S
cents waiting for seats. This was highly
desirable, since it drew so many eager
for the forbidden away from the Sug-
geStive trivialtieS of lighter shows to the
Spirit-cleanSing power of true drama.
Only the superficial and the false is
pornographic, in art or in life. The
single incident in THE Sacred Flame"
to which the most prlldish critic might
object is so imbued with the underlying
tragedy Of this sad business Of living
that it brought wave of sobs from
the women all over the house. Folks
don't cry over risque stories. wind
driven storm is never dirty whether it
sweeps over steepled villages or over the
souls of men.
Marriage, as most children may have
suspected, is an economic and biological
partnership, which has been emotionally
sublimated by the conditioning mechan-
ism OF human tradition. When two
persons enter this partnership they re-
peat the age-old formula "for better or
worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness
and in health, until death doth us part"
The economic and the biological thus
are submerged in the spiritual The
instability Of the compound provides
eternal drama.
In this case the bridegroom crashes
In an airplane on the day Of the we'd
ding and never leaves wheel-chair
again, thus obviously removing from the
emotional triad which constitutes mar
rage one of its essential elements. The
bride bears the cross of this situation
without murmuring, for the spirit is
stronger than the flesh.
But the unfortunate young mans
mother seeing the agonies of the soul
under the forced smiles, out of the
depths Of her experience Is moved to
an Olympian pity-pity for the woman
extled in the lonely mountains of self
negation and pity for her son walking
the short road to death with naked feet
over the red-hot swords of pain.
The only conceivably suggestive cpl
sode is that in which she afirms her
experience-given creed that marriage is
a sublimation Of primitive instincts
rather than a mere intrusion of the
earthly into the spiritual.
She solves the difficulty Of great love
and pity by giving her son q double
dose OF chloral, and his pain GIBBS away
into merciful sleep from which there
is no awakening.
1t is a dramatiZation Of a story by
Somerset Vaughan. The part of the
mother is played-and exceedingly well
by Pauline Frederick: that of the
bridegroom by Conrad Nagel and that
of the bride by Lila Lee.
PAL ACE A stage show headed
by Lou Holtz, the 20
The Bishop Solo Mic" comedian Of
Murder Case" musical comedy and
Scandals" fame, walks
on with the honors at Loew's Palace
Theater this week, where the screen
feature, 8. 8. Van Dimes THE Bishop
Murder Case" holds only secondary In
tereSt Tor the capacity audiences that
are thronging the doors four or five
times day.
1t is a case Of mot Caesar less, but
Rome more" The thrills and hair
ralsers OF the typical Van Dine novel
are all there. But there's a corking
snow on the stage. Holtz is in his
clement as master of ceremonies and
star performer of the show, which in
Guides the dancing Pearl Twins, high
steppers from California; Dolores, Ed
ward and Douglas, adagio trio; a youth
whose name we didn't catch. but whose
walk no one could miss, and the Chester
Hale girls in several striking numbers,
the piece de resistance of which was
snow ballet with an artistic reindeer
scene.
Van Dimes novel has suffered some
what from its translation to terms of
the silver sheet, in the sketchineSs of
the scenes leading up to the unexpected
Climax, a sketchiness made necessary
In order to promote the action of the
play, but, nevertheless, which robs it
OF a certain convincing quality that
Is the forte of Mr.. Van Dimes written
works.
Basil Rathbone is excellent in the