The Washington times., 1932-09-24

- there is, had
Andrew R. Kelley to be, for this
extended psychological research
into the life and loves of Nina
Leeds is told within the time
period of the average screen fea-
ture. about two hours.
On the whole the serious
venture away from accepted
movie formula marks achieve
ment. In reducing the volum-
inous dramatic fiction the whit
ting down hatchet has been
applied to the "asides," those
long stretches of character mus
ing which plumbed the minds
and the very souls of the
Strange Interlude" characters.
Screen Innovation
But enough of these "asides"
have been left to constitute
innovation and novelty and at
the same time serve to elaborate
and make transparent the
motives which impelled an in
teresting set of characters.
You may feel a certain dis
appointment-if you are an
O'Neill addict-in the fact that
the famous MY Three Men" men
scene has been cut down to al
most tableau size with Norma
Shearer as Nina" voicing the
one important speech here in
concentrated form.
Playwright ONeill's extended
moralizing at the close of his
story has also been capsuled into
brief nugget of soliloquy. Thus
has time been saved.
The main thing is that the alb
sorbing story of Nina Leeds and
her experiments in love has been
satisfactorily told by the screen,
beautifully acted by Norma
Shearer and others in the cast.
The "thought-speech" has been
contriVed by having the actors
voice first their conventional
dialogue and their secret mental
musings are then made audible by
the screen while the lips of the
characters remain motionless. 1t
may prove somewhat confusing at
first, but last nights audience
soon grasped the new technique.
Shearer Is Fine
Nina's story is fairly well
known. How her first sweetheart
fell to his death in war fighting.
How she married Sam Evans to
fulfill the desire for motherhood,
while secretly loving DR.. Ned Oar
rell. How she is denied parentage
with Sam and conceives a son by
Darrell. How the boy, Gordon,
hates his father and worShipS
Sam. How Charlie MarSden, de-
voted to Nina, hovers around her
from youth to until he is beyond
the age of desire. Strange In
terlude," the story of life'S diSap-
pointments and Illustrations.
The fluidity of the camera per-
mitS an imposing wedding scene
in vast cathedral, the staging of
a boat race that has its exciting
thrills, romance in apple or
chard backgrounds, charming
rustic panoramaS. Photograph
cally, Strange Interlude" is a
thing of beauty.
Norma Shearer plays Nina
Leeds without that full measure
of bitterness and constant woe
which envelop the stage char
acter. Unhappy she is, but she
does have her moments when
the sun shines. EconomiZing on
Ninas "aSides" has made her less
of a moody and depressing char
acter while retaining the keynote
of tragedy. Her transition from
youth to old age is magnificiently
accomplished by the makeup art.
1t is commendable portrait for
the Shearer acting gallery.
| Alexander Kirkland. as Sam
Evans, impressed me as the best
of male trio. The character of
Sam is the most wholesome and
closest to normal in the O'Neill
tome. Kirkland makes him lit.
tie pitiful in his gullibility which
endures until he fades from the
scene. Ralph Morgan is the
Poor Old Charlie" and gives a
sterling performance barring
those moments when he tries by
facial expression to visualize the
"asides."
The one disappointment is
Clark Gable as DR.. Darrell. He
seldom looks the part, and ]
blame much of this failure to i'm.
press on slovenly makeup. Oddly
enough his big scene is not with