Evening star., 1932-02-20

aided and abetted by the genial Mr..
Beery, who, unfortunately, gets his
in the end.
This funereal ending is. however.
the only lugubrious note; the rest OF
it being rough and rugged, spoken
in the language which actor beery
handles best, acted with especlai
skill by him, and to a lesser extent
by Cliff Edwards, Marjorie Ram,
beau, Marie Provost and Conrao
Nagel and including that patent
leather idol, Clark Gable, who seems
for the first time not so good as som1
say he is. In role opposlte
Beery, inasmuch as t.e Is the man
in continual opposition to his hara- @
hitting superior, it Is perhaps dlIn-
cult to feel any sympathy for MIN;
particularly since Beery Is the De-ail
and the end-all. But treason or no
treason, Mr.. Gable acts as thougn ne
knew the camera were waiting 1or
him, and as though he were saying
well, you lady fans, here l am.
The most eloquent aspects IN tnls
have little to do with its plot. Inc
latter, in fact, has been constructeo
only as an afterthought to tucklne
in all the latest Navy gadgets.. IneSe
"gadgets' are, however, extremely
interesting and have been photo-
graphed more adroitly than seems
possible. The landing OF the planes
on the Saratoga without letting you
see too closely how they are aoie
to stop, the demolishing OF Dat-
tleship from the air, the dirigiDie IN
flight. what some of the fleet looks
like in California and in Panama
all are worthy of the impetus WHICH
has been put in their revealing.
The introduction Of the story ele.
ment doesn't really matter except
in so far as 1t allows Beery to say
caustic things to Gable. and GaDie
ditto to Beery, and to let them rol!
around on the floor in battle ana
to put Beery eventually into the
"hoosegow." While this Is going on
the producers are merely marking
time for the next nautical spectacle
and these SpectacleS are SO gOoa
that the rest. even Mr.. Beery's un-
fortunate death at the end OF the
film may be overlooked or you walk
out in time).
Considering the stars" bHlliance
and the effective handling OF peace
maneuvers in the Navy, this may be
set down as a f1rSt-class picture
which rises to many heights-more
on sea than on land. E. de S. M.
The Cinema
Goes "Freakish."
ONLY the morbidly curious will
" enjoy Freaks" the new offer
ing at the Palace Theater. The pic
ture Is different. That Is all which
can be said In its behalf. The plot
Is far-fetched and borders on the
repulsive. It is circus show devoid
of all the wholesome. interesting
phases of circus life. and 1t is diff
cult to believe the things depicted by
the picture ever would happen In
real life
A midget with a bank account
which would do credit to 6-footer
and an ambition to marry normal
woman is the leading man. He Is
accepted by Cleopatra, queen CT the
air, who plots, with her lover. Her
cules, the strong man. to poison him.
The midget's friends learn Of the
scheme. To disclose the revenge
they take would detract from the
element of surprise. Nevertheless, 1t
is sickening.
As matter of fact, most midgets
lead cheerful lives. They travel,
they live like aristocrats and they
do not seek sympathy. One would
never know this from seeing
Freaks" however, because the ap-
parent purpose of the picture Is to
exaggerate their shortcomings. In
other words. there are circus pic