Evening star., 1935-08-28

Dy that meeClnR dlSO, dIiu III tliC uC"
M-G-M flicker version the alterations
are fashioned at least in the spirit of
the great Russians novel.
Whoever got the idea of pubhcizing
the role of Anna Karenina as the
new and happy Garbo's happiest part"
we don't know. Nothing could be
farther from the truth. Every mo-
ment of the action is overshadowed
with the presence or presentiment OF
tragedy, relieved only occasionally by
q type Of comedy intended in the book
to excoriate the boorish conduct and
codes Of certain aristocratic classes In
czarist Russia.
Anna Karenina" is a doubly inter-
esting production from the standpoint
of both professional guessers and the
movie public because it marks the ex-
piration of Garbos present contract
with M-G-M. She has made 20 pic
lures for that company in the last 10
years and likewise has made more
money than almost any other star in
Hollywood. Whether she will now re-
tire to her beloved Sweden and live
on the income, continue to make pic
lures for the same company, or set
herself up in business to produce and
perform in her own cinemas is moot
question.
THE last of these seems the most
unlikely. although she has been
working with the same director for
five pictures and might very well find
Clarence Brown an excellent nucleus
for an independent producing unit.
Probably the two real courses de-
hated in her mind are retirement or
contract renewal. With the aid of
shrewd publicity Garbo has managed
to create the illusion that she is an
artist, concerned only with art and
anxious to be left alone. Reasoning
from that basis it might be supposed
that she would be unhappy without
her work, or it may be concluded con-
versely that she would be content to
rest on her laurels and live out her
days off the earned increment of the
past decade.
In reality, it is most likely that she
has developed the habits of money
making. success, and bathes in adula-
ton just as strongly as any other
actress, modern or historic. There is
also very good chance that all the
talk of retirement is merely another
clever ballyhoo routine, designed to
excite public interest, by suggesting
that a very tasty entertainment
morsel is about to be snatched away
Even works of art, if produced reg
ularly twice a year for 10 years,
eventually are received as a matter
of course. The producers recogni-
ton of this fact is reflected in re-
peated campaigns founded on "a new
Garbo" Of some description or the
other. And furthermore, not every
Garbo picture has been work of
art.
These generalizations are not di-
rectly applicable to Anna Karenina," !"
but because it is the last of the
current, guaranteed Carlo series, it
provokes abStruse comment. AS for
the details of her latest flicker, they
will be duly considered, when Anna
has settled down this Friday for
nice long run at Loew's Palace.
X X
THE Community Players will repeat
their performance of George
Bernard Shaw's "Androcles and the
Lion" at the Sylvan Theater on Thurs
day. Threatening weather held down
the attendance last night, and the sec
ond performance will be presented to
give Washingtonians another oppor-
tunity to behold one of G. B. SIS
brightest pieces.
For the first time in months the
local cricks are widely split on pro-
duction. Two afternoon and one
morning sheet registered from luke
warm to cold on the Roadside's THE
Henrietta" The other morning and
your humble servant thought 1t was
swell. We still do.
Another of those dreamy MASTER