Evening star., 1939-02-11

they are happy to send him money
to support him so long as he stays
in the South Seas. Through series
of circumstances too hilarious for
anyone's recital but that of Mr..
Vaughan, and script writer Bartlett
Cormack, this terrible person be-
comes the object of the affections
of missionary who is quite the
reverse of all he stands for. Not
in years has such strange and
comic situation been dealt with on
the screen.
The Beachcomber," in case any
one is struggling at this point to
figure it out, is the story of Rain"
in reverse. In the latter, so sin
gularly perfect vehicle for Jeanne
Eagles, Mr.. Vaughan had great
sport with the notion that male
missionary was not better than the
circumstances which permitted him
to escape the destinations of lady
of the evening. The present play
makes the missionary female, the
challenger male. 1t all works out
very Interestingly from the stand
point of dramatic denouement. In
Rain the bad girl got her good
man. In The Beachcomber," the
bad man gets his good girl and au-
diences are bound to enjoy the
process as much as Mr.. Vaughan
did in the writing of it.
Ginger Ted. hero of the screen
drama. is not the usual type, al
though he is not surprising fellow
for Mr. Laughton to be playing
He is philosophic sot, satyr in
a Pacific paradise. Mr. Laughton
manages to invest him with charm
that is altogether engrossing,
performance that not great many
persons in the movies could give
, The emphasis of the character is
upon its comic side, but there are
implications that Ginger Ted is
what he is in the story because
of something that went before, a
hint of tragedy that never is allowed
to become more than a hint because
there is so much else to be portrayed.
1t would be too much to say
that the character is the most i'm
pressive of Mr.. Laughtons impress
sive career. After all, he did play
Henry VIII Rembrant, Capt. Bligh
and several other very impressive
people straight from the pages of
history. In none of these. however,
did he register such obvious enjoy
ment.
The missionary who falls for the
wastrel Laughton is played by Miss
Elsa Manchester. In way, her
performance is quite as impressive
as that of the central character in
the Vaughan drama. Patiently,
they are two players who not only
completely believe what the script
is saying, but who are having a
tremendous bit of fun demonstrating
their belief. The mood is communi-
Gated in every infection and gesture
they make with the result that
| whatever ones prejudice may be,
he is likely to forget it in the course
of watching the picture.
The Beachcomber, which in
PRODUCES number of other talented
English actors, is not absolutely
a perfect picture 1t has the weak
ness of dragging short story be-
yond its normal length. giving 1t a
repetitious quality that might be
more noticeable were the playing less
skilled. The ending, if one is not
too busy laughing at it. might also
seem to be a trite, thing which
presents the principals far away
from their tropical home being a
pair of nice English innkeepers.
In spite of these qualities how
ever. it remains one of the most
entertaining pictures of the last
few years.
After all these years of listening
to Mr. Morgan on the air WASH
ingtonians are given their first
glimpse of the maestro in the flesh.
AS one of the first proponents of
swing. he becomes doubly interest
ing at this point by playing music
that is sweet. The Readinger Twins
Larry Collins. Shea and Raymond
contribute to making the stage show
nice supplement to one of the
more interesting film attractions of
the season.