Evening star., 1937-11-07

lar from being q good play. Its violent
waspish quality and its excursions into
drama had an unfortunate way of
making you wish that its authors
would rush right back to their comedy.
Now the screen version, which has just
closed q triumphant three-week en-
gagement at the Radio City Music
Hall, comes along, quietly throws the
original plot away and gives us stage
Door" as 1t should have been done in
the flrst place. 1t Is humorous, touch
ing and moving, its characterizations
are lively and valid and 1t has GER
tain gallantry about it that Is genuine
ly stirring. In short, 1t succeeds IN
being what the original never quite
was, both a good show and q good
play. Does it, then, suggest that pos
sibly the screen can be superior to the
stage even in the theater's own field?
1t seems to me that it does nothing
Of the sort. 1t merely happens that
the script OF the screen version was
better than the script of the original
and the direction was Just as good. A
stage script has a tendency to fiatten
out when 1t is transferred to the films,
and it is obvious that the new scenario
written for stage Door" was essential
ly stage scenario photographed,
rather than presented three-dimen-
sionally, under the guidance of one of
Hollywood's most skillful directors,
Gregory La Cava. Only one scene be-
longed essentially to the motion picture
the episode in which the unhappy
actress who has seen the part she
longed for go to another walks slowly
up the stairs to her death-and it was
quite brilliantly managed, both by
Mr.. La Cava and by Miss Andrea Leeds,
who plays the role. Perhaps we can
also grant to the screen the moment
in which Miss Ginger Rogers sits in
the first-night audience and tearfully
watches Miss Katherine Hepburn
triumph in the role the dead girl
had longed for, but on the stage that
could have been managed merely by
the later episode, in which Miss Rogers
visits the stars dressing room after
her triumph. Anyway. am convinced
that the screen version of the Kauf-
man-Ferber work is essentially stage
play that has been photographed
rather than an authentic use Of the
medium.
IT is interesting to note, too, that
Mr.. La Cava's method of direction
gives every sign Of stemming from q
distinguished stage ancestry, nothing
Italian commedia dell'arte. I say this,
knowing full well that it will cause
Mr.. La Cava, who has fine scorn for
anything that savors of pedantry and
pretentiousness in the drama, to snort
contemptuously at such pompous
contention. Nevertheless, it is very
true that in his direction he does use
the method of improvisation, ignoring
the idea of formal script and COL
laborating with his actors to make up
dialogue and even situations as they
90 along. This easygoing manner OF
production can, in untalented hands,
result in complete chaos, but, skillfully
managed, it can bring about an in
formal, high-spirited and naturally
exuberant quality that Is fresh and
engaging. 1t was this method of col
laboration, too, which caused one of
the most exciting things about the
filmed stage Door" to those who re-
NGirc Uay,k,,,r,,sc 70
venture on the stage in THE Lake"
In the picture, you must undoubt-
edly know by now, Miss Hepburn plays
an ambitious actress who gets a
leading part. does it atrociously dur
ing rehearsal and surprises everyone
on the opening night by the excel
lence of her performance. after she has
been emotionally aroused. One of
the innumerable fine qualities Of
Miss Hepburn is her undeniable cour-
age, and think she proves this pretty
conclusively by what she and Mr.. La
Cava have managed between them in
stage Door" For the scene that
you see her doing is a scene from
THE Lake" and In the rehearsal epi-
sodes she gives an honest and very
cruel satire on the performance she
herself gave in that Inflated play.
Then. where she is supposed to tri-
umph, she goes ahead and plays the
scene just as she should have played
it on that first night on Broadway,
late in 1888. 1t is a rather gallant
gesture of defiance to her foes that
Miss Hepburn makes, and I think that
she scores in it handsomely. She is
quite courageous girl, this Miss Hep
burn, and she deserves several critical
bows for her work in the screen stage
Door,"
At the same time, if you tell me
that 1t is Miss Ginger Rogers who
gives the finest performance in the
photoplay. don't believe that I will
be able to dispute you. For several
years there has been a curious tendency
on the part of people who should know
better to suggest that Miss Rogers was
merely good-looking dancing girl,
who was lucky enough to have Fred
Astaire for partner. AS matter of
fact, Of course, she was a most impor-
tant contributor to the success of the