Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-05

~. rt..A TeVle W e q Ills
Ameri n
Tragedy" the fact that an author OF
such commendable virtues as Mr..
Sherwood likes film version OF one
of his cherished brain children Is
very good sign and an indication
that the films are not waging war on
the litterati, as SO many protest.
The especial brilliance that Is at
tached to this film, one has to ad-
nit, is not due to any particular
mental struggling on the part OF the
author-the theme being as old as
Moses-but rather to the perform
ance of Mae Clarke as the unfor-
tunate lady of the streets whose
taste of the better things Of life is
brief and tragic, and to the super
direction by James Whale. Miss
Clarke, recalled chiefly through her
short but electrical performance IN
THE Front Page" is young actress
whose methods of evoking sorrow
rank high among this seasons his
trionics. The undoubted truth that
many ladies who first witnessed her
emotings found themselves wrestling
with handkerchiefs is a tribute to a
skillful manipulation Of q role which
O116A1b easily 4AofS AoASA w NAASAA'
Waterloo Bridge" being the chief
background for the unraveling OF
the theme, Director James Whale
late Of Journeys End"-has seen
fit to introduce his heroine to his
hero there-as in the play-and also
has killed her there-aS not in the
play. The ending meant, 1t is said.
to be a SOP to certain fault-finders
who invariably complain Of the
happy untangling Of the plot, in this
case seems more theatrical than
necessary and far too abrupt. No
sooner has this lady Of the streets
said goodbye to her soldier lover,
whom she has promised to marry,
than she starts running across the
bridge, and before you know it
preSto!-she Is trodden under by a
giant shell, which has reduced her
to nothing. Psychologically, this has
have time to be sorry for her-or
rather you have Just seen her lying
sprawled out on the pavements-
when the lights are flashed on and
you catch your next-door neighbor
on the verge Of again reaching for
the handkerchief.
Much, of course, has been said and
will be said about this ending. Some
like it-others don't. Here is mild
(but how else would you have it,
don't.
Other than the talented Miss
Clarke. the brief comedy Is supplied
admirably by Godfrey Kerr. and the
very young and ardent soldier-lover
IS played by Kent Douglas, who used
to be with the Theater Guild and
who still is trifie too Self-conscious
to be better than average. However,
most of the ladies say he is grand
so perhaps he IS
A morbid story this-but we'll done
and different" E. de S. MELCHER.
Rebound" With Ina Claire
And Robert Williams at Keith'S.
A NY dialogue emerging from Dom
aid Ogden Stewards shop is
meant to be smart and brightly So
phisticated, and any play to which
he puts his hand, full of bibulous
children and grown-ups who talk
about spinach and "weedie- weedieS."
Sometimes this Is funny-but not al
ways. This can be said about the
new film, Rebound" at R.-K.-O.
Keith's-which sparkles in places,
crackles in spots. delights few and
insults the others.
Ina Claire, whose best theatrical
moments have come in speaking Mr..
Londsdales effervescent lines, Is the
lady in this who tries to do Hope
WilliamS-and doesn't. Effective be-
yond doubt during the first part
except the very firs0, squeezing the
most out Of some exceedingly lop-
cidnd 1frono lriv1rr that Ia
only mildly witty seem absolutely
so, she yet fails on the whole Of be-
ing more than highly affected the
atrical celebrity.
AS far as this reviewer could see,
the film lay triumphantly in the
palm of Robert Williams, who as
Johnny the drunk was not only
amusing but believable. and abSo-
lutely the only character Of them
all who had one grain Of chivalry
in him. Otherwise Robert Ames
seemed natural and unaffected as
the rebound" husband. and Myrna
10y looked much better than Miss
Claire in an identical dress.
The substance of Rebound" Is the
ring around-a-rosie existence of four
idle rich" half Of whom marry
for love and the other half (divided),
one for money and the other to for
get having been given the gate"
On their respective honeymoons
they meet in Paris and get all mixed
up with each other again. Then,
later, back in the States" they get
mad, and sentimental, drop down
on their knees to each other, and
behave much like you or Wouldn't
before a camera. A good deal Of
this is splendid-but the knee-drop-
ping isn't. E. de S. M.
"Huckleberry Finn" at Fox
Is Juvenile Film Success.
WHILE other boy characters Of
W fiction are just parts of the
printed page, there is American his
tory in the imaginary contributions
of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Saw
yer to the vigorous life of the Mis-
sissippi Valley. They are national
characters just as surely as the
Presidents of the United States and
the great leaders in Congress. They
are better known than any of these
their thoroughly natural qualities
are more easily recognized than
would be those Of a company Of
statesmen, for they represent localized
national traits. Viewed by Mark
Twain, in the remarkable period of
his career when he was performing
prodigious feats in the creation Of
living and typical characters, mere
ly that he might accumulate the
funds to pay q great debt of honor