Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-24

and the reasons why this age spends
most Of its time in the innards of
SpeakeaSies, this time beats all
around the bush and finally decides
that settling down to domeSticity is
the only thing.
One doesn't mind so much the
familiarity about all this as one
does the eternal preachment that
goes with it. Mankind is painted
fairly drearily, and womankind. rip
ping out its soul and throwing it in
the face of its beloved, discovers that
it is thrown back when the standards
OF one are set up against the other.
What's fair for one evidently isn't
fair for the other, says Miss Parrot,
and so perforce does Miss Shearer,
and so perforce must the audience
after which the story is done, and
the feminine element, for some rea-
son. goes out Into the light bathed
in tears.
AS the modern girl who is bent
on loving rowing newspaper cor
respondent, much to the annoy
ance of a Boston lad who proposes
continual marriage to her by tele-
phone from bar, Miss Shearer tries
the free-and-easy game for a while,
primrose path when her lover leaves
her fiat in Mexico. A handsome cad.
who reveals that he had a wife in
Paris all the time. This man later
proposes marriage when he has got
ten his divorce and then changes
his mind when he finds that this
lady is not as she used to be- What
happens afterward it would not be
fair to divulge-but the lady on our
right said an audibly angry word
when she found that Robert Mont
gomery wasn't going to win the lady.
Miss Shearer is, as usual, quite
vastating-although she should
perhaps be chided for moments of
oversweet coyneSs. Neil Hamilton Is
adequate as the newspaper man who
finds sitting down in one place quite
impossible, and Robert Montgomery,
the Boston lad, says amusing lines
in just the same way he says every
other line-to the howlS of delight
from his legion of feminine worship
ers. In the shorter roles, Marjorie
Rambeau and Irene Rich contribute
a great deal.
But as for the story-onionsi
E. de s. MELCHER.
Fine Cast at Earle Headed
BY Bebe Daniels and COrtez.
GENERAL smart and trusty film
- performers, with a hit-or-m miss
plot ranging from mystery to farce,
furnish continuous entertainment in
The Maltese Falcon" which is Of
fered at the Earle Theater Headed
by Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez,
the company assembled for the pro-
Ia. se
gnegate sense of humor which needs
only an audience with a similar ap-
probation of the grotesque side of
life to make an ideal combination.
Along the beaten path of the con-
ventional conflicts and murderous
tendencies that follow the custody
Of some Oriental treasure of great
value, the mystery tale proceeds to
gather miscellaneous assortment of
birds Of prey engaged in the
common enterprise of duping
each other, through a series of
scenes, with unsupported thrills,
marked by great emergencies which
suddenly disappear as the tables are
turned in continuous rotation. Pts
tolls appear and disappear In kaleido-
scopic manner, death is a game OF
chance, romance becomes a social
phase Of crime and policeman and
detective give. a comic opera touch
to the proceedings.
These things could not happen so
splendidly if 1t were not for the fact
that the players are superior to their
material, and that all of them have
had enough experience in creating
characters TO make them count all the
way along the route that Is Travelled
-.
genuine sympathy with her mock dis
tress. Mr.. Cortez may be said to
have the misfortune to create one Of
his most striking roles without the
satisfaction of being either wicked
or heroic. As for the rest Of the COM
pany, they are numerous and effec-
tive in various odd ways. Dudley
DiggeS, heretofore a man of indi-
Viduality, is all of that IN THE NAL
tese Falcon" and has laugh which
really means business. Una Merkel,
always associated with the Lincoln
film, makes an Office secretary a per-
son of commanding importance, and
Robert Elliott'S familiar conception
of the wise police officer is here seen
at its best j. Farrell Macdonald
aids in the creation OF impressive
scenes. The whole is a lively example
of the play without logic, but with
a large supply Of the human quail
ties that destroy the seriousness Of
life.
The stage performance at the
Earle is TO be commended with equal
force because of the uniform strength
of the four acts that are presented,
including Uncle Joe Laurie. jr., with
his dancing and singing relatives"
Maurice a IN
batic dancing with masterful tech
nique; Vernon Rathburn and asso-
ciates in saXophone solos and en-
sembles which reveal the possibilities
OF their form of music. and Smith,
Strong and Lee in their special form
of comedy. D. G. G.
Leo Garlic, the
Best of Hell Bound"
THE hero OF Hell Bound" the
u new film at the Rialto, is a
kindly gunman with a smiling soul
who rides TO his death in a motor
car smoking a cigarette, thus insur-
ing his young wife's health and hap
piness with a man to whom she
should more naturally belong.
A curious drama this, fairly good
in places, with an ending that is
especially to be noted. And Director
James Cruze has been immeasurably
helped by Leo Carrillo an erstwhile
fayorite Of the stage, who in his
talkie debut--if it is his debut
proves himself genial actor and
one ideally equipped for this part.
With vocabulary, in which such
colloqUialisms as You shut up your
face" and when you opened your
eyes ! was a gone wop" predominant,
he Is the most cheerful of the gun
men who frequent the screen as
much as they do the streets
nowadays. And while he is quite
up to running out of his restaurant
and shooting a man, he is just as
capable of proving that he has a
heart that beats warmly under his
steel undershirt.
Mr.. Garlic is 80 per cent Of this
picture. Mistaking a young singer
who steps of the train at the right
moment for a shrew OF ganeland. he