Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-31

cry ana EHahS
cnrts To remove them and those In
the ballet do Just about the same
thing. II isa glorious piece OF clever
rnciodramR. deliberately executed,
and fitting as the boiling point 70
Mr.. Barrynores excellent character
izetion az Ivan Tsarakov--the man
whose mother was a ballerina ana
his father a duke, and whose ambi-
ton. to dance, was fooled by the
presence Of his manned fo9t.
II IA dificult 70 fathom why In
plcture which has such a stirring
Intimate and a star whose acting Is
so superior. that the rest OF 1t seems
not only sluggish but occasionally
a trffe duh. Perhaps II is because
the popping Of Mr.. Barrymores eyes,
the angle OF his beard. the crazed
resticulations OF his face-muscles
have been viewed TO similar adj
vantage In the recent "Evengai' And
perhaps. too, because the plot goes
hand in hand with the saga of the
lamented Trilby, and you know
when you first understand that the
Mad Genius" must transplant his
would-be urge for the dance to
young boy whom he rescues from
Russian tyrant. that II Will be
transplanted. and then II won't, due
70 that popular pastime OF the day
love.
Love in this case is personiied by
Marion Marsh, playing the role OF
an insipid young lady who yeafns
for Mr.. Barrymore's incorporated
dancing lad. Strangely enough the
more you watch Miss Marsh the
more she seems to suggest the blonde
beauty Of the erstwhile Miss Cos
teIlo--although her acting is in
nowise as deft. nor her features as
perfect. In fact she is not, by half,
so good as she has been before, due
possibly to a bad makeup and pos
sibly to the fact that her role is as
nil as 1t is.
Donald Cook is extraordinarily
apt in his representation Of popular
and then unpopular dancing sprite,
and Charles Butterworth comes in
neatly now and again 70 relieve the
tension of the drama.
1t is, OF course, entirely MIR. Bar
rymore's show. He screws his face
into knots, his fingers assume hide
Gus proportions. his eyes glisten and
then pop, and he is consistently the
demon maestro he Is meant TO be.
manipulations, however, and the
clever camerology. the story is heavy
and none too cheerful and to be en-
joyed in somber silence although 1t
may give you nightmares long after
Halloween. e. de S. MELCHER.
Carlo and Gable Shine
In Susan Lenox," at Columbia.
IF there had been available yester-
day morning q couple of bombs
in the vicinity Of the Columbia
Theater they would have been used.
The reviewer. hoping to be able TO
eschew the early morning crowds"
sat high up in one of those perish
able balcony seats which teeter so
precipitously on the brink of space
thinking in this wise to be able to
get a quiet, II hazardous, view of the
new Garbo-Gable picture-"Su Susan
Lenox-her Fall and Rise"
AS it turned out the quiet" lasted
about five seconds. Around him
flowed a sudden wave of weary
female shoppers. also intent on the
Carlo frolic. who tired with having
exercised their feet all over Wash
ington's asphalt began, and con-
tinued as follows: My dear, Isn't
she the thinnest thing you've ever
seenl" Have you ever seen such
an unbecoming haircut" Il sup
pose she thinks Just because she
wears 1t that way we're expected TO
wear it that wayl" Why she's a
skeleton" Look at the way that
dress hangs on her!" She's old"
"She's ualyl" She's got big feetl'
do you suppose she really cares for
that mani" "oh I don't see what
HE sees in HER"--and so on until
almost every ounce Of enjoyment
there might have been found in the
film was knocked out by these 1--WE
admit IL was only pair of
volatile tongues.
People who venture in to see q
Gsrbo picture should by now remern-
Der that Miss Carlos talents are
not 10 be measured by the usual
standards. She is not a moderately
good actreSS-She is an eXtraordi-
narily good one-and this is evidenced
by the fact that she is not a hundred
per cent beautiful or anywhere near
that. She has, however. something
which continues 10 serve her even
better than the mere rudiments OF
beauty-and that is charm and a
certain brilliant exposition Of bril-
liant personality. If before they