The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-07-17

VI JIlG HOUSE VI UdudllGV lhIO l.
For Romeo and Juliet" is the
peak of two careers, Irving Thai,
berg'S and Norman Shearer'S.
In this play, Thalberg has pro.
duced a far greater film than
'Mutiny on the Bounty" He had
q far greater writer in William
Shakespeare. That story Of the
sea would not have been the same
without Charles Laughton; neither
could the cinematic version Of
Romeo and Juliet" have been the
same without Norma Shearer.
Convincing Portrayal
There were times when she
reached heights of emotional
grandeur, and at all times she
convinced in each Situation-a dis.
traught maiden dying for love.
This girl is the miracle of Holly
wood, she has never failed in a
role. When the greatest of emo
tional roles was given her to per-
form, she placed herself in the
very front rank of those gifted
women who have played it. I can
remember no woman on the stage
who brought to it such deep con-
viction. You believed Norma
Shearer as Juliet. You felt the
pitiful tragedy in which two bel
Igerent families had placed her.
When she meditated on what
might happen to her in the tomb
should she ever wake up, there
was all the fear and the fury Of
Hamlet, Macbeth, and Shake
speare in the fral and beautiful
girl.
There was never such dialogue
as in this film. The words leap
at you like trout, now gay, now
sad, now flashing in the sun.
Lines remembered for years take
on new beauty under the perfect
diction of the players.
Great in MelO6rama
The greatest love poem Of the
ages, Romeo and Juliet" is also
magnificent melodrama.
It starts with. a street brawl
which prepares the background
for the tragic love story. The
lovers careSS two minutes after
they meet and within two hours
have sworn eternal vows.
Then the pace of the melo-
drama accelerateS; from the duel
scene on, the pace becomes breath
lace ond tho oonI1VooY11o Si0va ~ Voo;n
fortune that makes Romeo believe
that Juliet'S apparent death is real
is so skillfully contrived that the
suspense is unbearably exquisite.
This is far more effective on the
screen than on the stage. The
screen development is continuous.
There are no waits while scenery
is being changed.
A skilled and sure playwright,
Shakespeare was master of melo-
drama and suspense, and the most
sublime of poets. While his work
would glow under the dullest
hands, Thalberg has allowed no
hack scenario writer to hammer at
the coffin of the brilliant dead.
Inferior Men Step Aside
For once in Hollywood inferior
men have stepped aside for a
mighty master of words with a
golden tale to tell.
The film throbS and aches with
the moody changes of Shake
speare's music. After the canned
dialogue of most studios, it was
thrilling to hear again this glori-
GUS and musical speech, to watch
the iridescent flow of fruitful
words; the cornucopia of language,
the fertility of which is unequalled
in history. It all comes with sur
prising freshness from the screen
and with greater clarity and init
macy than in a stage production.
While Shakespeare was a man
with lightning in his head, he also
had the good fortune to write
when the English language was
young and uniformed. Out of the
ferment of Anglo-Saxon, French
and stocky Latin came a drunken
language, bold, exuberant and un-
restrained.
Using $4,000 different words,
many Of which he nodded himself,
putting on and taking off endings,
combining and inventing freely to
fit his majestic needs, Thalberg