Evening star., 1935-11-02
Angel
Is fearful
Not Tragic
It's Mood of Picture,
Not Essence That
Is Sad.

For some strange reason, there is a
bit of fundamental dishonesty in the
business Of tear jerking. After spill
ing the brine over the misfortunes OF
such handsome, charming persons as
are to be found in Dark Angel" one
comes away feeling there has been
some legerdemain mixed up in it
somewhere. The whole thing seems to
have been done with mirrors, and in
retrospect appears like so much emo
tional prestidigitation, accomplished
principally by manipulating senti-
mental values, by making a fine 'ot
of drool appear to be really profound
tragedy.
Just as a magician usually needs
rapid fire patter to distract attention
from his sleight of hand. the first
essential of sob-sister drama is q
cleverly sustained mood. The picture
at the Palace this week succeeds
chiefly because 1t attainS that requisite
with splendid ease BY virtue of some
shrewd acting, q series of lovely set
tings and astutely directed scenes, it
manages to convey the impression
that the sorrows and r1isunderstand-
ings Of its particular people are Of
deepest Importance. Looking back
over their conduct later, one will
conclude that they were mostly lot
of oversensitive citizeEs who managed
their problems in n1audlin fashion,
but at the moment they seem to be
doing the right and inevitable thing
and suffering the consequences most
nobly.
In other words, we are willing to
admit that Dark Angel" is a splen-
did job of its sort, but we refuse to
acknowledge that it Is anything more
than a rather melancholy little story
Of two boys and girl who grew up
together and then had their lives
messed up by the war and by some
petty misunderstanding. They almost
make terrible sacrifices for one an
other and they almost are beaten
down by relentless circumstances, but
they escape fate in the end and they
might nave avoided the whole busi-
ness by a bit Of common sense.
Therefore they are not tragic char
acters. Tragic characters are moved
down by circumstances they create
themselves, as surely as II they
started an airplane propeller and then
were overcome by an irresistible desire
to walk into it.
AS you may accidentally have de-
rived from these words, Dark Angel
is a sensitive, tender tale. If 1t Is not
a major tragedy, then what Of it?
Neither were lot of Shakespeare
regal dramas, although he thought
they were. Merle Oberon contributes
a heroine who is spirited If not i'm
passioned, and Frederic March turns
in some really fine acting after his
darker hours begin in the play. Be-
fore that his work is rather lukewarm.
While some of the fault may lie with
the way his part is written, Herbert
Marshall seemed to us unnecessarily
SNUG as the loser in the triangle Like
Miss Ann Harding, Mr.. Marshall is
beginning to reveal a lamentable con-
sciouSness of his popularity with the
3 o'clock matinee crowd. 1t doesn't
help him any.
Two minor roles in the play are
brilliantly handled by John Halliday
and Frieda Inescourt, while the others
include Janet Beecher, Claude Allister,
Cora Sue Collins and Fay Chaldecott,
all quite satisfactory.
The Palace also boasts Mickey
Mouse and a short subject or two on
its bill this week. r. B. P, Jr.