Evening star., 1934-06-09

Crawford picture.
However, to us, it does not seem
BY any means the best of the Craw-
ford films. Although it holds your
interest throughout and is admirably
acted by most of the cast-especially
Edward Arnold and Jean Dixon-the
story as it progresses becomes more
and more tawdry, and in spite OF a
so-called happy ending certainly does
not leave you with a lighter-than-
air feeling.
The spectacle of Mr. Arnold rolling
around as a rotund inebriate, hiding
bottles under his pillow as he tries to
recover from his orgies and plunging
headlong down those stairs when he
is unable to stand on his own two
feet, is not happy sight. Nor do
you feel unduly stirred when Gene
Raymond, playing the role of a vas
cillating bounder, lies dying in
tuberculosis hospital. Nor do you feel
particularly excited that Joan should,
presumably, be hooking" Franchot
Tone as the curtain drops, after all
the trouble he has caused her.
Man. in other words, is painted
fairly foul, and the girl emerges as
a sweet, smiling sister who tries to
start off life with bang, and Is
forced (by Mr. Tone) into such un-
known channels that she agrees to
marry a drunken millionaire who Is
likely to pop off into the other world
at any given moment but likes her
with all the passion of an 11-year-
child.
Ladies, as mentioned before, should
however, find all this pretty satisfying
if they have grudge against the male
species, and If they, like Sadie, have
battled to the top and helped their
less hardy partners to fight the good
fight with all their might.
Miss Crawford does her work agree
ably, but not so well as to remember
always to whip out that "aint" at the
right moment, or to swallow certain
of her own sophisticated idnosyn-
crasies. We found her not SO hand
some as she is capable OF being-and
of course, quite put in the shade by
that disagreeable character which is
nevertheless played splendidly by Ed
ward Arnold. Mr.. Arnold as the worldly
money man who marries her; Gene
Raymond, who sings one of the better
songs with a good deal of success, and
Franchot Tone, the proud son of
proud family, are the three gentlemen
in Sadie's life around whom Miss
Delmar has written her shabby story
You will, of course, want to go and
see the film. And you will enjoy the
first part of it. But when you get
those intimate glimpses of Mr.. Arnold
in his home you will Shudder bit
and wonder why the screen has to
traffic so much in these disa agreeable
things.
IT TITLE MAN, WHAT NOW?" Is
- a sincere, dignified and OCCASION
ally moving picture which has been
filmed with great care from the Hans
Fallada novel, and which you should
by all means see If you are interested
in two of our youngest and most
talented actors. While Margaret
SULLIVAN, who was so tremendously
affecting in "Only Yesterday" is not
allowed to get you to break your
heart over her again, she shows tre-
mendous promise and Is never so
artificial as most of her other film
contemporaries would have been in
the same role. Personally, we have
great admiration for her talents
particularly because she has risen to
the top without benefit of great
beauty and without background OF
overpowering Broadway success.
Then again, even if you are not
fond of the staccato acting OF Douglas
Montgomery, who has been trained in
the Theater Guild School, of which
Franchot Tone is also a member, you
will allow him great credit for his
work in this-since he carries most
of the picture on his shoulders. He
appears practically in every scene
and we doubt if he makes so much
as a single wrong move or gesture
Except for the fact that the director
has overdressed him, seldom allowing
him the poverty stricken look that the
novel implies, his work is extremely
effective and you will follow his bit
ter struggle with great interest, and,
we think, with good deal of respect.
The story, as you know, is not light
and frothy. Its theme is the theme
of today and yesterday-we hope not
the theme of tomorrow-and its char
acters are those postwar Germans
who fought the battle of poverty with
a suggestion of heroism as we'll as
bitterness. In this picture the ending
has been made happier than it was in
the book. But this is neither so long
or so theatric as to disturb you-and
leaves you with hope that you might
even think the author would have
preferred if he had written the book
q couple of years later.
Mice S,,l1ovop &c tho volInp bride