Evening star., 1932-03-06

1.-TWO women Of vastly differ
ent physiognomies have
done themselves proud in
the local movie houses dur
ing the past week-Marie Dress
ler and Marlene Dietrich.
These two stars are f1ouriShing
the way few expected they would
a year or so back. Miss DreSSler
has flung all burlesque manner
ismS into a distant hinterland
and settled down to being not
only a good actress, but a near
great actress. And Miss Dietrich
Is coming to the fore not as a
part-replica of Miss Garbo, but
as her own self.
At the moment Frau Dietrich
Is, of course, not up to the mark
OF the incompatible Marie, who,
as Emma" makes mincemeat of
the theory that no heroine can
be heroine without youth, beau
ty and a dimple in her right
cheek. But Miss Dietrich has
definitely overcome the handicap
imposed on her association with
the Garbo legend, and at the mo-
ment and after viewing "Shang-
hal Express" should be listed not
only as great beauty, but as
some one who one of these days
may develop a real personality.
1t is this lack of warmth, or
personality, which battles the
average moviegoer. The sight of
Miss Dietrich's blond curls. slightly
sunken cheeks, and that weari-
ness around the eyes is undoubt-
edly stimulating. She, too, has a
voice which, while not a resound-
ing baSSo a la Garbo, is still an
interesting quantity and attracts
rather than repelS. But, in the
final analysis, what does she do
other than look to the right and
to the left, croSSwiSe and side
ways, and allow the camera to
snap her just as she looks into
heaven?
One of these days a director
will come along who will shake
her into fits, make her rant and
roar and tear the lining from the
great restraint that she creates
all around herself. Her emotion
at that time will be visible in her
hands and, perhaps, in her feet
as well as in the Botticellian gaze
which is now her chief asset. At
that moment, too, perhaps, she
will have attained that inner ring
along with the imperishable
Garbo and be able to indulge in
a few of what Bert Lahr calls
"f1sticuffS" with the Venus she in
no wise resembles.
This Miss Dietrich is an actress
OF rapturouS expression, who has
now done sufficient to be awaited
eagerly in her next celluloid ven
ture-a woman who did much
more than upset a railroad car
in her last venture-who, in fact,
upset pleasantly a great part
of the audience.
THE fact that many people
found Shanghai Express"
tedious is a curious truism. Such
reviewers said: 1--WE knew what
was going to happen long before
it finally did happen" Yet it is
seldom that such is not the case
with a film, as also that few films
have been handled with more
skill. In fact, the treatment of
the camera material is one of the
recent miracles in the picture in
duStry. People who were inter
ested never lost faith until the
end. Somehow, there was plenty
to catch other than the plot. Ar
ranged like a novel, if you didn't
care for what was going on, at
least the mental attributes of the
characters kept you alive, and the
fact that they were all so varied
and all so colorful-and all sug-
gestive of that species of person
which you hope you may meet
when you climb aboard the
Shanghai Express some day.
SIDELIGHTS on the week in
- clude the news that the cur
rent celebrity at the Fox Theater,
Ben Lyon, whose smile in Lady
With a Past" did much toward
upsetting the usual savoir faire
of the orchedacious Constance
Bennett, is a bug" on finding
bargains at private sales and auc-