The Washington times., 1933-04-03


months late, preferring neigh
borhood houses to palaces Of
art. But the other day I had
the good luck to see a preview
Of Gabriel Over the White
House." of which I knew only
that the dopesters in Holly
wood think it will be box.
office sensation. Not always
seeing eye-to-eye with these
dopesters, I was both skepti'
cal and cautious, and found,
to my qualification, that this
time they must be right. What
Is more, Gabriel is the first
bright sign in the skies OF
Hollywood, not merely for
Cosmopoliton and Metro Gold
wyn (Which haven't been
eclipsed as some of the other
companies have been). but for
the industry as whole. For
Gabriel proves that you can
create a knockout picture
which has actual bearing on
the lives and happiness Of a
hundred million people, instead
Of dealing with the imitation
Of life as imagined by tired
writer's who have long ago
forgotten whatever they knew
about the actualities Of ord1-
nary life.
Life Catches Up
When the book was written
the scene was laid in the fu'
ture; so rapidly do events rush
along that now some Of the
chief movements of the picture
have the terrific impact OF
things happening under our
eyes. AS you know, the story
is of a newly elected President
of the United States who, start
ing as an ordinary politician,
suffers an accident and comes
out of it q statesman, willing
to destroy his party if he can
same the nation. The saving is
divided into three parts: a new
deal for the unemployed. a new
deal for debts and disarmament,
and a new and drastic dealing
Of shotgun fire for racketeers.
The President refuses to call
out the army to destroy the url'
employed and instead enrolls
the unemployed into an army
of construction, promising them
jobs under the Government
until industry recovers, when
they will be free to withdraw
from the army and return to
civilian employment. He also
refuses to be put on the spot
by the racketeers, put the Fed
eral Government into a regular
liquor business. declares martial
law and annihilateS the gang
Sters. Finally he insists that
debts must be paid by Europe,
and, by a terrific demonstra-
ton Of planes destroying war
ships, points out the way of
disarmament, ushering in new
era Of peace with the covenant
Of washington.
Dignity and Power
Each Of these major episodes
Is superbly handled. For once
we have men on the screen who,
supposed to be intelligent and
dealing with complex problems,
speak simply and intelligently
and effectively. For once you
do not think Of ham actors ut
tering wisecrackS. In the ter
rifle scene Of the motor acci-
dent you may think of Walter
Huston as an actor; after that
he sums up in his grave and
impressive movements all the
dignity and power of a COM
posite President Of the United
States.
Gregory La Cava has d.
rected the story we'll. Every
thing is brief, everything that
can be made pictorial and ex-
citing is made so. Without an
interfering love story, with only
a tiny romantic interest, he has
managed to make all the chief
characters human enough; and
backed by the events of the
past four weeks, he has cap
tured your interest by the simple
means Of letting you know that
what happens on the screen is
happening to yourself.
Hope for Hollywood
Some four months ago I sug-
gested to a Hollywood producer
that when Inauguration came
around the American people
would be wanting something a
little more powerful from the
screen than what they had been
getting. From where I sit lat
q desk to which letters from all
sorts Of people Gomez I could
guess that all of us were begin
ming to be aware of the pro-
found influence which national
politics has on our lives. My
Hollywood friend assured me
that that every company had
thought of a picture dealing
with American actualities, and
added cynically that in the end
they would all go back to max
ing gangSter films. To me that
sounded like the death knell of
the pictures, and thought they
had better order a supply of
coverlets from their commiSsary
denartment=to be ready to be-