Evening star., 1932-12-12

Design for Living') with the show
ing of Cecil B. De Miles spectacle,
THE Sign of the Cross"
This film which is further adver-
tiSed in a nicely colored circular
sent from the local Paramount Of
fees, is said to be rich and royster-
ing affair. bright with such stars
as ELISA Landi. Claudette Colbert,
Frederic March and Charles Laugh
ton, and given over otherwise to Mr..
De Miles most expensive extras UP
to the number of 1900
It is lust about time for De Mile
spectacle of this sort. 1t Is long
since the cinema has been given a
lavish production by the man who
used to be called the bathtub wizard.
Mr.. De Mile has always had an
eve for rich trimmings, and he also
has been able to handle Hollywood
crowds with more success than other
directors. Given a few Thousand
humans, or camels, or whatnots, and
De Mile is completely at home. AS
long as there are more than a hun
dred players on the set, he can sit
back and tell them what to do with
infinitely more ease than he can one
man talking to one woman.
While this may be a slight exag-
geration, it Is no myth that De Mile
is wizard with large canvas. In
a spectacle such as THE Sign Of the
Cross" is meant to be, 1t is said that
he has outdone himself in eye
splitting orgies and evidence Of
Roman hey-heyism. While virtue
triumphs IN the end, runor has it
that virtues enemy has a consider
hofnra fc
vanQuished and that most of the film
is devoted to this song and dance.
Whatever and however, 1t will visit
the National in ''road-showing" in
January. Those who have for
gotten what an orgy Is are advised to
attend this, since 1t is replete with
100 dancing girls, combat between
dwarfS and amazons, boxing with
spiked gloves, wild tigers, elephants,
lions and leopards, chariot races and
"other wonders"
Then, too, Charles Laughton's Nero
Is said to be character enough to
chill the blood, his carryings-on out
doing all the previous screen VII
lainies he mas committed.
E. de S. M.
Central Europe"
Concludes Traveltalks.
WITH Central Europe" as the
w theme of his final travelogue
of the season, Burton Holmes out
did yesterday. his previous efforts in
the search of scenic wonder and pic
turesque quaintness. Not content
with his perturbation Of castles
floating upon cloud oceans, Of mir
rored lakes and towering mountains,
he journeyed far and near, encom-
passing city, state and grand-duchy
in his effort to prove that all of Cen
tral Europe is beautiful.
Feats of amazing agility, performed
by skiiers in the Austrian Alps, we'd
dings in the native Hungarian cos
tune, rustic dances, ancient relics,
customs and trips upon the bosoms
of placid lakes, hemmed in by su-
perb snow-capped mountains. were
but a few of the many subjects of
Burton Holmes camera. Each in
its way was more interesting and
unusual than its predecessor.
Arriving in Linz after a dash
through Germany, first the train
service and then the feeding of wild
deer upon the mountains were ex-
amined. Porcelain factories, riding
schools, Winter sports at st. Anton,
visions of Koenigs-see Gin Burton
Holmes estimation second only to
Lake Louise in Canada for scenic
content) and then the highways and
by-ways of Bavaria we're offered in
a bewildering succession to the ad-
miring audience. The globe-trotter
completed his program with visits
to Nice. Grenoble, the tomb of Chew
alier Bayard, Luxemburg, Sarajevo,
Budapest and the Hungarian plains.
Touching only here and there the
modern side of the continent, the
lecture was all the more impressive,
with its jewels of rare beauty so en-
thralling in magnificence. Bidding
adieu with a promise of forthcoming
travels of new and novel form, Mr..
Holmes ended another of his edu-
eating as well as entertaining
travelogueS. FIG.
Ry0n's Auto GirIs''
Playing at Gayety.
I'D RYON, without any trouble at
- all, can produce show that has
the patrons of burleSque talking for