Evening star., 1936-12-03

Lawrence, Elsa Manchester and cast
as large as a good sized suburb. Not
only as large, but a lot more talented.
1t has excellent photography. 1t tells
the story of an interesting career; one
of the finest in the field of genius. But
the story Is told with restraint that
smothers action. That appears to be
the weakness of Rembrandt" despite
the ministrations Of Laughton and
Alexander Korda.
It is not reasonable, Of course, to ask
the Charles Laughton of Rembrandt"
to be the Laughton of Henry WIZ or
of "Mutiny on The Bounty" 1t does
not even make good sense to think Of
such a thing. Yet one does think it,
probably because those roles were in
filtrated with large shots of gusto. His
Rembrandt lacks gusto, and audiences,
missing it. are likely to blame Laugh
ton and Korda instead of themselves.
Rembrandt's story was somber one
one, and this English film narrates it
with fidelity to the fact. His was a
genius and an integrity that existed
in an environment which was blind to
genius and irritated with integrity.
For the beauty he created to earn pos
terity's honor and reverence, his own
time rewarded him with every perse-
cution and hostility 1t could contrive.
The Korda-Laughton film tells this
tragic story with what appears to be
too much truth and too much restraint
<N vx,iv, y,Ii ,ot tSe {nta
probation, its direction and its photog-
raphy deserve.
7 AUGHToN. his face transformed
into perfect likeness of the great
painter, gives one of his characterist-
ically fine performances. 1t is to his
artistic credit. If not his greater popu-
larity, that the performance is suffi-
GENTLY subdued to depict truthfully a
man who painted a world he might
more justifiably kicked in the pants.
The film also gives Gertrude Law
renee, member of the sophisticated
firm of Coward and Lawrence, a
chance to play role quite out of the
ordinary. It Is seldom that Miss Law
renee wears the face of a shrew, but
she does in Rembrandt, and she wears
It well. The most active moment in
the entire film, indeed, belongs to Miss
Lawrence; that In which she speaks
her piece as the woman scorned by
Rembrandt in favor of the ethereal
Hendrickje Stoffels.
Hendrickje, played by Elsa Lanches-
ter, carries considerable weight of
the Rembrandt story on her frail
shoulders and does it we'll. She, of
course, is the servant girl who gave
back to the famous artist the sense of
love which his painting so needed and
which he lost for years after his wife
died. There is more ice than fire,
however, in Miss Lanchester's Hen
drickje. That, indeed, seems to be the
major defect in the whole film.
THE three-episode March Of Time
edition on the Keith bill perhaps
Is sufficiently full of action and vi
tality to compensate for any lack
Of these qualities in the major fea-
ture. The third episode is devoted to
the activities OF the Federal Theater
Project, that Government venture
which seeks to pump new life into the
undernourished so-called living thea
ter. It covers the theater from pre-
war to post>depression relief for un-
employed thespians.
The other two episodes deal with
the st. Lawrance Waterway Project
and the international problems trou-
bling the nights Of Belgium's young
King Leopold. They are handled with
the artfulness that one has come to
expect in each edition Of The March
Of Time"
Pathe's newsreel shows the Dionne