Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-05

Director Clarence Brown, ana by the
adaptation of some of the actors,
one sits through most OF it with in
terest, and in the final sequences one
may be considerably stirred by the
force of the climax.
The greatest disappointment is
that Leslie Howard. one of the very
excellent actors on the stage today,
should seem so absolutely colorless.
Before the footlights Mr.. Howard
is an intense and vital actor. The
screen seems to melt his talents TO
a minimum-and while he Is aver
agely good. he Is not by any means
what he should be. This fact makes
the upshot of the story all the more
surprising-for Mr.. Howard suddenly
acquires a good deal of character
and shoots, without any fear, the
man who had insulted his (How-
ard's) intended wife. Up until then
one didn't suspect that Mr.. Howard
had that much blood in him. A
completely fanciful lover, he had
made love to Miss Shearer with q
gentle fire that didn't seem capable
of attaining force enough to blow
another mans brains out. When
the brains had finally been blown
out he seemed like pretty good
fellow-but not up until then.
without benefit of her usual CO.
lossal wardrobe and with little of the
wildfre spirits of amnesia that Miss
Shearer is oftentimes made to as
sumo, she is seen as the daughter
of naughty inebriate who falls in
love with a gangSter and then de-
clines to marry him. When her
tippling parent finds that his gal
loves the sleek haired proprietor Of
a fashionable gambling house, he
. calls her such names as makes her
slap him in the face. Whereupon
she repents and he repents and
they decide to go out to the open
spaces, there to breathe deep of ozone
and forget their mutual bad habits.
The father, clever lawyer in his
sober moments however. goes back
to his cups as soon as the aroma OF
the East is upon him again, and
Miss Shearer, too, flies into the arms
of her loving but laundering lover.
Suddenly she discovers that he Is
Cheap" Suddenly he finds that
she doesn't mean to marry him.
Then-presto-her lover comes to
her rescue and few minutes later
a bullet ends the battling gangster's
life. Sorrow, Imprisonment, shame,
and then-well. 1t comes out all
right-thanks to Mr.. Barrymore,
who Is so good in the Aim, as Is
Miss Shearer particularly at the
scene OF the triaD and Clarke Gable
as the Romeo whose methods be-
came trifie too brusque
Good to the last drop-or almost
even If you don't believe all the
hokum. And even then pretty good.
Z. de s. MELCHER.
MEN Of the Sky"
Opens at the Metropolitan.
INTRIGUE behind the lines OF war,
the daring life Of spy and the
penalty that he has to pay when
caught, is the substance of Men of
the Sky" current at the Metropoli-
tan. The title of this film proves ?
to be misleading, for the airplane
has little to do with the story.
Jack Whiting, late Of Americas
Sweetheart" and Irene Delroy have
the leading roles, those of the boy
and girl whose romance is shattered
by the outbreak of the war. Miss
Delroy as the lovely Madeleine Au-
bert, daughter of DR.. ALBERT. an
Alsacian who served in the former
war when the French were besieging
Strassburgh and who has never
broken his allegiance to France, is
most convincing, playing the dra-
matte part Of the suspectS1 spy as
well as the lighter, more carefree
role of q girl in love. = =
Caught in the web Of secret arti-