Evening star., 1937-12-26
Hollywood's
"TOvarich"
Is Coming
And 1t Is Dared
To Surpass the
Stage Version.
By Harry Macarthur.

w YHEN Hollywood made stage
M Door" into motion pic
Wv ture it proved there are oc-
casions when the cinema
can improve upon the stage. Now,
II you have kept your ear to the
ground. you know there Is hue and
cry arising among certain citizens
on the West Coast that Hollywood
has done that same thing again in
translating "Tovarich" from the stage
to the idiom of the photoplay.
1t will be interesting to see next
Friday, when the celluloid version Of
"Tovarich" comes to the Earle, just
how much basis there is for all the
advance praise Of the picture in this
vein. Without having seen the screen
adaptation, We are willing right now
to 60 far out on a limb as slim as
the one sports writers usually find
themselves on in the case of heavy
weight battles and say We don't see
how Hollywood's "Tovarich" can sur
pass the stages.
"Tovarich" seems bound to make
one of the years top-notch motion
pictures, to be sure. It has Claudette
Colbert playing the Grand Duchess
Tatiana and Charles Boyer playing
Prince Mikhail. Miss Colbert Is q
past mistress at the art Of subtle and
human comedy. which "Tovarich" de-
mands, and Mr.. Boyer IS q past mas
ter, as far as we are concerned, at
anything the screen demands. So you
may be assured the two principal roles
will be we'll handled. Then there
will be Basil Rathbone to play the
Soviet commissar. and II you saw the
play you can visualize the suave Mr..
Rathbone doing a topping job in the
part.
But as for this business of bettering
the stage play-we shall wait and
see The celluloid version OF Stage
Door" topped the footlight version
because the movie makers had the
good sense to use the story only as
the basis for an idea, then cast it
aside and write human yarn full Of
feeling and compassion. But there's
no call for doing anything OF this
sort in the case of "Tovarich."
The plays the thing here. (And 10,
of course, was the superb acting OF
Maria Abba.) If you saw '"Tovarich"
at the National you must remember
that one scene which IS an example
Of the reason the stage is not going
to die and let the screen carry on
the torch. It's that moment In the
kitchen where the grand duchess
and the prince have taken to servitude,
when ideals are being altered; when
two mobiles of ancient Russia. who
hate the new regime, see the world
in a new light, put the fortune which
the Car has intrusted to them at
the disposal OF the Soviet peasants
who used to be the Cars people.
This is one of the electric moments
the stage gave its followers mo-
ment which was human and warm
and throbbing with life.
Stage Door" Gf we may go back
to that just once more) had its superb
sequences, too, especially the one
where Andrea Leeds, with the song
of her yesterday in her ears, climbed
the stairs to her death by heartbreak.
But we still dare the cinem& to
make our spine tingle at that kitchen
scene Of "Tovarich" the way the stage
did.
"TOvAR1CH" at the Earle is about
= the only thing clearly defined
in the mirror Of the periscope we use
for cinema horizon scanning, other
film bookings being at the moment
surrounded by haze Of uncertainty,
which probably will be dispelled be-
fore this is in print, Of course, making
us appear either nuts or liar. Unless
the boys are keeping us in the dark,
however, and not letting us in on the
know, they don't know just what they
will be showing . week from now.
To be sure, you may depend on the
fact that "Rosalie" Is big enough to
stick around at the Palace and that
(eaa NA0 ARTHUR Pm T.2.l