Evening star., 1937-12-06


dren's children, perhaps, because right
now Mr.. LorentZ is becoming an his
torical figure in the making of motion
pictures; man whose name social
historians will be cramming into the
unwilling minds of school pupils in
some brave new world of the future
1t is possible, of course, that history
will be administered in tablet form
then, and consequently be much easier
to take.
MIR. Lorentz truly is a kind of miracle
man. He is that because as a motion
picture producer and director, he had
the great imagination and bravery to
substitute the earth-meetS- -Wind-and-
water theme for the bOy-meets-girl
formula and managed to make out of
the substitute something unbelievably
exciting in the way of screen drama.
1t may be insanity to go out on limb
like this before seeing the picture but
we saw Mr.. Lorentz's previous work.
The Plough That Broke the Plains,"
and our men are lot easier and safer
to predict that those the sports depart
ment has TO deal with. In qualities
OF predictability, not to mention some
others, there is practically universe
of difference between, say, a Dizzy
Dean and Pare Lorentz.
X x * X
A MOTHER respect in which Mr..
Lorentz makes you blink with
wonder IS that he is. by profession,
a motion picture critic. In many
quarters that career is practically
synonymous with mad urge toward
destructiveness, yet Lorentz, one of
the most destructive critics of them
all, has the genius to create some
thing better than the pictures he has
: so mercilesSly condemned He prob
ably is the first, and may be the last.
critic in history who had the perfect
answer to that challenge: "If you
don't like it, why don't you do some
thlng better?" There is nothing to
do with man like that but canonize'
him-that is, unless you can think of
something better. We cannot.
Rivers and ploughs and dead lands
may seem to you to be undramatic
material, as compared with Alice
Faye and Charley Mccarthy, but
they don't to Pare Lorentz. That
they do not strike him so is a very
important thing. He is able in con-
sequence to substitute a Mississippi
for a Garbo, and an unglamorous
desert for Robert Taylor and produce
something tremulously exciting and
Wasting moving.
But even that is not all Mr.. Lor-
entz can do. You may have heard
some OF those reports being whispered
around about the New Deal being
eXtravagant, Government composed
OF men who would rather give 81
for a bushel of no wheat than ST.
for q bushel of wheat. Well. MIR.
Lorentz makes his pictures with Gov
ernment money, but apparently no
one ever told him either the sky or
Morgenthau were the limit. He spends
exactly like young father worried
about the hospital bills for the first
baby. That, of course, is contrary
not merely to some of the suspected
tat leasD tenets of his employers,
but horribly, horribly contrary to the
philosophy of lavishness which gov
erns private industry in the making
Of motion pictures.
or course, Mr.. Lorentz does not
have to pay the Mississippi River
a salary of $500 a week, nor the
Alleghenies $4,000 to act in his pic
lures. That saves him a deal of
cash, naturally, but there are other
expenses which are inevitable even
for a Lorentz. He keeps these down,
not merely to the bone, but a bit
lower.
The distinguished audience, before
which MIR. Lorentz will make a per-
sonal appearance even if his starring
rivers and mountains will not, will be
composed of those high in the execu-
tive, legislative and judicial branches
OF the Government, diplomats and
various members of the ruled, as well
as ruling, classes. 1t is an especially
invited audience, which can dress or
not dress, as it sees fit, but undoubt-
edly Will dress. Most of it, at any
rate.
Mr.. JOSEPH VOGEL, vice presi-
dent and general manager of
Loew's, Inc, has things to say about
move stars and radio programs and
company participation in such pro-
grams When he comes to town. At
least MIR. Vogel who wears the mantle
or his double Office with becoming