Evening star., 1930-03-31
sJOURNEY'S End"
Euic Of the War.

-JOUHNE1,S End
Epic Of the War.
IS JOURNEYS END" long since has
been awarded its place as the
epic play that has come out Of the
World War and the one destined to
remain and be remembered long
after the list of its predecessors, each
of them attempting but failing to
tell the whole story, has been for
gotten. And because of the world
wide reputation that has preceded 1t
wherever it has gone, the task OF
any local reviewer is more or less
confined TO passing comment on the
particular cast chosen to act 1t. with
possibly a guess hazarded as to why
the play is the masterpiece that fame
and acclaim have made it,
The company that brings Jour
ney's End to Polls this week is
fresh from long and successful
run in Boston. 1t leaves no re-
grets with those denied the oppor-
tunity of having witnessed the origi-
nal cast that has become famous in
New York. 1t gives excellent ac-
count Of itself without trace of
weakness in any part. Richard Bird
as Capt. Stanhope and Henry Steph-
enSon as Lieut.. Osborne are admir-
able in their Interpretation of the
roles that. by contrast alone, give to
the picture one of its strongest ap-
peals. Dan Booker's Pvt. Mason is
immense, and Frederick Catling as
Lieut.. Raleigh is successful in por-
traying the poignant illusions of the
youth of all time, a factor that
played greater part in winning the
war than all the guns the Krupps
could turn out in generation.
Norman Pierce and G. p. Huntley,
jr., give creditable reality to the
typical characters of Lieut.. Trotter
and Lieut. Hilbert.
After the deluge of snapshots of
the World War that followed the
armistice. some of which found their
way to the stage, it remained for an
EngliShman-R. G. Sheriff-who saw
the war from a British dugout near
Ypres, to paint picture that, by its
inclusion of nearly all the elements,
comes nearest being a real account
OF what went on in France.
The success Of Journeys End"
and the universal appeal it contains
probably lies IN the fact that its IL
characterS-Some of them merely
shadows that flicker in the back
ground-are somehow symbolic of
the millions of men who for more
than four years were at each others
throats along the western front.
Every man who ever lived in his
boots IN a dugout for a week may
not have seen Lieut.. Osborne and
capt. Stanhope, Mason Raleigh,
Trotter and HILBERT, or known them
all. But every man who went to
France knew one or two of them
and had heard of the others. And
seeing IL men in Journeys End"
one has come pretty close to seeing
them all, including the squat bot
ties that sat on the table in the
officers mess, whose part in winning
the war has never received the stu
dious examination it deserves.
AS every one knows by now the
action in Journeys End" takes place
IN q dugout. There is only one set
ting for the three acts. The movies,
In time, will, Of course, remake it
to suit themselves. and in so doing,
much of the effect of this stage
treatment viii be lost. For some Of
the most eloquent of the scenes in
eAC RAay SOAloAcb AAC4CA9 VI bAlS empty
dugout, with the candles aflicker
and the dark corners lit now and
then by the eerie reflection Of the
very lights from the outside. The
shadow of plot is woven into the
play. But most of its strength
comes from what is left unsaid. 1t
has no beginning and 1t has no end;
It contents itself with showing a few
days in the dugout In the days pre-
ceding the last big German offensive
In 1918, and In those days there was
no beginning, no end,
With every play dealing with the
war, Journeys End" shares renown