Evening star., 1937-01-24

be credited. There are directors out.
there who have come to the conclu-
sion that if their art is to mirror life
reflect the fact that there are times
when individuals do not talk; that
deep emotion sometimes leaves them
at a loss for words but manages
nevertheless to express itself In its
very inarticulateness.
Writers of dialogue may not ap-
prove of such heresy. They may find
it entirely inconsistent with their con-
ception of what the industry should do
with its own mechanical vocal chords.
Given sound, as they have been. they
may see only folly in not using it un-
der any and every circumstance.
However, regardless of dialogue de-
partments and their feelings, it may
be that silence will come back to CO.
operate with sound in making the
movies much more lifelike.
X x
IN TAKING advantage of silence,
the films will have made use of an
important leaf from the book of what
is called the living stage. They will
let it express emotions with an effec-
tiveness that sound could never
achieve. The change may even re-
suit in a higher quality of acting for
the deluge of words under which
pantomime has been buried. 10 these
many years, has not been an unmiti-
gated blessing. Robbed of lines to
indicate his feelings the actor may
learn there are other ways of express
sion. In the case of many an in
terpreter of the film dramatist's art,
the ability to read a line has been
gained at the expense of capacity
to give it vitality in other ways.
Talk has its place in the talkies,
but not to the exclusion of those
silences which provide proper con-
trast That Hollywood is growing less
fearful of vocal voids in its work is
another sign of adulthood. And a
commendable sign.
To have reached an universal audi
ence is the glory of but few who have
written for the theater. 1t is, how
ever, the particular glory of w. S.
Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. To
those two collaborators must go the
distinction of having climbed over all
the barriers which separate age from
age and class from class. That, in a
way, seems to be the finest thing that
can be said about the Gilbert and
Sullivan festival which enters its Sec
ond week at the National Theater to-
morrow night.
Rare, indeed, is the occasion when
Washington's last legitimate theater
draws the entire family from grand
father all the way back to little Willie.
Usually it is case Of grandfather
staying home with Willie while the in
between generation enjoys its night
of drama. All three are there these
memorable days of the D'Oyly Carte
company and all three are finding
equal delight in the words and music
of Gilbert and Sullivan.
They find this enjoyment because
there is everything in these light
operas. A week of seeing them en-
phasizes anew that these two men
knew how to fuse such irreconcilables
as slapstick comedy and subtle satire
and to inject into the pattern all the
dramatic elements between the two.
r X X
MODERN dramatic writing seems
N'A too highly specialized when con-
trasted with that which Gilbert and
Sullivan gave to the world. 1t is
either one thing or another; never
everything at once.
One may take satire, for instance.
There is a great deal of it in the nine
operas which comprise the repertoire
being presented during the current
engagement. They carry icing of light
nonsense which is enjoyable in itself |
even though one may never see through |
1t to the satirical substance which lies |
beneath.
So for little while the whole fam
lily goes to the theater at one time.
Each of its members gets what he
particularly goes to see and he gets
1t quite more effectively than when it
is taken straight; that is to say, with
out the endlessly appealing melody of
1t all.