Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20

tastes. Last week Washing
ton went to see the brothers
Barrymore in "Ar n e
Lupin," enjoyed them hugely. and
crowded the theater from morning
to night. The week before, in
London, "Arsene Lupin" was with
drawn from the Empire Theater
on account of lack of interest.
London, of course, known better
in the theater world possibly as
'Mr. Noel towards town" (Mr.
Coward is at present in Hollywood
touching up his immensely sue
cessful stage play "Cavalcade" for
Fox cinema productionO often
disagrees with this end Of the
world. It has an unfortunate
habit, too, of sending over films
which seem to us-eXcept in the
case of 1.-The Office Grip which
proved itself so exploSively salts
fying-far below the average. But
in the varying laws OF ups and
downs little has occurred so rad
ical is giving the MeSSrs. Barry
more a cold shoulder.
Perhaps the efficacy Of the late
Edgar Wallace in the realm OF
thrillers and mystery yarns mas
taken the edge off such a familiar
crook as the famed Mr.. Lupin.
And thus true bully-beef British
ers found the willy Arsene an In
fringement on the kind OF story
material which they had obviously
had monoply on for so long.
Nevertheless, even if the plot, in
stead of warming them up, rather
cooled them down, and even II
they decided that it was full of
large slices OF old-taShloneo
hokum, it seems strange that the
merits of the elder and the
younger Barrymore should not
have made up for the other
defects.
Probably the greatest event in
this acting year, on this continent
or any other continent, is the
Joining of hands of these two
brilliant actors. While it is true
that brother Lionel has Jared re-
markably well of late in his own
right, brother John has not found
his path so rosy. Another one OF
his eye-popping, Imb-tWisted
characterizationS, and he would
perhaps definitely have left the
ranks of the super-great and be-
come merely one of Hollywood S
prominent character actors. Now,
with the added impetus Of having
his brother beside him, free from
whiskers, and the gruntS and
groanS of a distorted mind, he
emergeS again as his immaculate
self, wearing his Slightly-over-an-
eyebrow high hat with that dis
tinction which no one but a Bar
rymore is capable Of before the
camera.
No more jubilant event than
that provided by the all-seeing
eye of Metro oldwyn -Mayer-by
coupling brother with brother
has come to us within the year,
except perhaps Miss DreSsler'S
miraculous treatment of a hum
drum role in Emma" Theater
patrons who were fortunate
enough to witness 1.-THE Jest" have
since been exclaiming on their
good luck in having seen two
major Barrymores in a major
play Now the screen accomplishes
what the stage would have liked
to accomplish but couldn't-and
didn't. Even if f1nicky cinema
devoteeS think they saw moth
balls escaping from the plot of
"Arsene Lupin," and Miss Karen
Morley less lovely than she is
(Which is not true), they must
have experienced a great and
lasting thrill in the acting of
Lionel as well as the acting of
John.
Mr.. John indicates in this that
he is on the road up again. Ger
tainly he has never been more
acutely excellent. Regrettable only
was all that darkness in a certain
scene (more than cleverly con-
ceived by the directory in which
Mr.. Barrymore was his most subtle
and most convincing self.
But even this didn't appeal to
the land OF Bond street and the
Cheshire Cheese. Possibly MUIR
ders IN the Rue Morgue" is having
a furious run over there.
4 r
MR.. CONRAD NAGEL'S warning
the other night at the dinner
Of the convention of motion pic
ture owners at the Mayflower
Hotel that the stars are not as
gilded as they seem, and that but
% out of $4,000 actually receive
the enormous salaries they are
yaf 10 fe