Evening star., 1936-11-22

sponsors OF tne picture, R-h.O Hddlo, j..
but just about every one else identified
directly or indirectly with the enter.
tainment world is concerned with the
question: VIII "Winterset" be q COM
n1ercial success?
Behind that question Is the circum-
stance that the picture Is different"
How Is it different? In the first place.
in spite Of the fact that it is perfectly
cast, there are no stars in it whose
light has shone on the universal scale
of . Gable or a Shirley Temple. AS
brilliant as Burgess Meredith, Margo,
Edouard Cinanelli and others Of the
cast are, they have names which are
far less well known than scores of less
talented individuals in Hollywood. As
they are unknown quantities to the
masses of show-goers, so are they un-
known quantities from the box-office
standpoint.
RUT it is not alone in the absence
LOT a celluloid constellation that
"winterset", is different. True the
elements Of its story, q boys pas
sionate devotion to his fathers
memory, his determination to clear
his parents name Of murder, and
running through it all a tender, tor
tured love for the girl in the case, are
familiar. They differ, however, in
that they represent a deeper search.
ing of the human heart than most ar.
rangements of similar story elements.
These, the factors that make WIN
terset" an entertainment problem
child at the moment are the very ele-
ments which should make it sue
cess. They give it freshness and an
enormous vitality that, slowly but
surely, won for 1.-The Informer" recog-
milton as a great picture, in spite OF
its departure from the groove.
.'winterset," critical opinion Is
agreed, deserves success not simply
because of its own high merit, but
because it is the kind Of picture which
gives screen audiences that ultimate
in dramatic beauty and power which
the stage has regarded as peculiarly
its own province.
The outstanding figure in the cast
of the film, which opens next Tuesday
at Keith's, Is Burgess Meredith, who
comes back from Hollywood with a
wholesome respect for the screen and
its marvellous works. 1t is not the way
of many q Broadway performer re-
turning from Hollywood after his first
to take the attitude that film
is a thrilling adventure in the art of
learning to act. But that Is the atti-
tude that Meredith takes.
DESPITE his tremendous success on
the legitimate stage, he found it
necessary to learn an entirely new
technique. he says. It was an ex-
perience that alternately involved deep
enthusiasm and complete despair.
Herbert Marshall enthusiasts prob
ably will find warming glow toward
Meredith for his admission that he
learned a great deal of what he has
put into his movie "Winterset" by
watching the methods and manners
Of Marshall.
It was Meredith's way in those first
bewildered days under the California
sun to 60 over to the set upon which
Marshall was working and marvel at
the almost Indifferent ease with which
the English actor provided action" in
even the most static moments of the
film upon which he was working.
Meredith tells many good anecdote
concerning the making Of ''Winterset,"
and one of the best Of them relates to
that bit of business in which he is re-
quired to take q position which shows
the Brooklyn Bridge set in panorama.
In the picture Meredith is shown
standing upright, but actually the shot
was made with him and his companion
lying on their backs. Not otherwise
could the camera have been put in
position to make the shot as required.