Evening star., 1934-09-06

emotional maSOchiSnl.
whenever Miss Harding dons her
mask of wispiness and goes before
the camera, you may always be re-
assured there will be certain amount
&Cf dignified -effacement involved
in her screen story, and that at some
point or other she will be called upon
to commit mild hari-kari upon her
own heart This invariably causes the
cash customers to cry contentedly and
go back for more when they see Miss
Hardings name In the bright lights
Of theater marquee.
In THE Fountain" however, every
thing does not run true to form. Miss
Harding's woes seem trivial compared
to those of the German army officer
with whom she entered into a loveless
marriage, for reasons not very clearly
explained While that brave, gentle
and altogether charming gentleman
fights for the Vaterland, his Julie is
sheltered in neutral Holland. There
she encounters Lewis Alison, young
lad she once knew in her England,
who has been captured and interned
in Holland for the duration of the
war.
Julie is unhappy, Lewis lonely, a
paroled prisoner in q strange land.
Apparently more out Of propinquity
than any isolated. real need for one
another, they become lovers. And
Baron Rupert returns, his arm shot
away, his lungs torn, dying man
needing his wife and every wrath of
affection he can find to fasten his will
into life.
There, of course, is an opportunity
for scads of self-denial. Julie, by
whom we mean Miss Harding, passes
UP none of 1t. She sends Lewis away,
swears over and over again to Rupert
that she adores him, that she will
never leave him. Rupert only half be-
lieves her, but he is grateful even for
the warmth of the pretense. He seems
dimly to divine the truth about Lewis.
but when he reappears, the husband
befriends him.
Even when he stumbles across al
most direct evidence of his wife's in
fidelity, when the tale Is showed at
him by jealous relative, Rupert de-
nies himself the pleasures of recrimi-
nation, the sympathy that society
pours layishly upon the injured party
in such affairs. But the shock of
Germany's defeat and the Kaiser's
abdication is too much for him. His
will crumbles when he hears of that
disaster, and once crushed, Baron
Rupert can no longer fight off
the realization of the facts he
once refused to countenance. He
dies. leaving the lovers to share to-
gether humbly such bitter fruit as they
can find In wilderness of their own
creation.
An adaptation from the tremen-
dously successful novel by Charles
Morgan, THE Fountain" suffers from
loQuaciousness. Its characters lapse
into long orations, much less inter-
esting and informative than movement
followed by camera, and the lovers
repartee Is unusually dull. There
should have been less talk and more
camera work of the type best exempli-
ed, perhaps, in a scene where Rupert
discovers an open passage between
Lewis quarters and Julie'sroom. The
camera follows him In that silent
ascent of the stairs, to the door he
must open secretly-not because he
does not know who is inside, but be-
cause he is still trying not to believe
the thing that is actually happening
to hinn-and back to the stairs again.
That silent pictorial sequence tells
more that has gone before and is to
come than all the speeches in the
film. It is too bad the method was
not followed further.
In general, however, "The Foun-
tain" is handsomely directed and
photographed. AS for the cast, Paul
Lukas and Jean Hersholt, given
part of the type he handles with per-
fection, carry away every scene in
which they appear. Miss Harding
still is blond and cold and inclined
to read lines with obvious attempts to
jerk tears. Brian Aherne seemed to
us very wooden hero, but several
young ladies in the vicinity yesterday
offered the information that he Is
"cute."
WHETHER you want intrigue, ro-
nance, new hat or something
for the children, it can be found
somewhere about the local show shops
during the new week.
At Loew's Fox the latest Franchot
Tone picture, "The World Moves On"
introduces new star, Madeleine Car
roll, and 1t is reported to be full of
all sorts of things to stir the soul.
Little Jack Little and his orchestra
head the stage bill. which includes
Ross and Edwards, Carl Shaw & Co.,
and Boyd and Wallin, wire walkers.
Kay Francis and Leslie Howard are
all mixed up in espionage, counter
espionage, dynamiting and secret
police in the Earle film, British
Agent" which was adopteI from r.
H. Bruce Lockhart's best seller. This
is the one about two people torn be-
tween love, loyalty and duty again,
but it was an exciting book.
Isham Jones brings his orchestra
TO the Earle stage tomorrow, and the
other acts are Jane Moore and Billy
Revel, dancers; Steve Evans. whose
piece is called Hollywood Snapshots" t"
end the Five Wonder Girls.
Messrs. Gable and Kruger, Miss
Joan Crawford and a lot of fancy
clothes get themselves embroiled dra-
matically in Chained the film at
Loew's Palace, notable chiefly for the
star power and the style show.
Chained" has earned a second week
here