Evening star., 1939-10-07

as great humanitarian. BY pre-
senting her thus, as the loving, tire
less benefactress of the wounded,
the weak and the weary. he was best
able to demonstrate the bestialty
Of war in its wanton slaughter of the
more than innocent.
Obviously 1t is a somber objective
toward which the Aim moves, but
it Is not remorselessly somber in its
mood. In recruiting to Miss Nea-
gle's assistance in the roles Of her
three female conspirators such play
ers as Zasu Pitts, Edna May Oliver
and May Robson, Mr.. Wilcox was
not unalert to the need for relief
from the overall darkness Of the
drama. Much subdued, naturally,
are all three as cogs in q machine
devised to tunnel escaped soldiers
over the border. Their contributions
to the action, however, are not with
out faint tones of comedy upon
occasion.
Michael Hogan, author of the
screen play, laid down before Mr..
Wilcox q script based directly and
entirely upon the elaborate record
of the Cavell case. Characters are
called by their right names whether
the nationality be English, Belgian,
German, .or American. The out
standing Americans involved are
Brand Whitlock and Hugh Gibson,
Ambassador and Counsellor of the
Embassy at Brussels during the
1914-15 period of the World War.
4 II X
The treatment of the record is
such that the picture resembles a
re-enactment of the dramatic mar
rative, giving the spectator the i'm
preston that he is actual witness to
the tragic march Of events. More
over, the tragedy Of them is broad
enough to include, at moments, even
some Of the Germans who partici-
pate in the drama at whose climax
stands the firing squad. Miss Cavell
Is shown to have been not without
her friends among the seeming
enemy. But they were little officers,
far enough from the top to be pow
erless, close enough to humanity to
see the blindness Of war.
The inevitable doom that walks
through the picture seldom changes
In tone or pace. Whatever touches
Of hysteria creep into the speech
and actions of any character are to
be found on the part of the villains,
as If somewhere buried in their ex-
citement was reluctance to be the
agent of destiny so gross.
Miss Neagle's portrait of the great
British nurse who died as she lived,
with pity for mankind, is one to
challenge the best pieces Of screen
acting. The record shows that Miss
Cavell was less pretty, but she could
not have been more the calm, poised,
aristocratic being bent only upon
service to mankind. On her visit to
Washington, Miss Neagle made it
clear that she was conscious of a
great responsibility in playing so
great and so historic a character.
She makes 1t even clearer in her
work on the screen.
Actual war scenes enter the pic
ture only vagrantly, bit of artillery
fire here and airplane dog fight
there. Such scenes are used only to
the extent they are necessary to
show the origin of those wounded,
or escaped, men who found medical
care and the road to freedom at
Miss Cavell's hospital for children.
Their negligible part in the film is
consistent with the intent to keep
away from melodrama.
Another respect in which Nurse
Edith Cavelp is impressive is in its
dialogue. Wherever possible it ad-
heres again to the record, from
which 1t derives much of its elo-
quence. But even more intelligent is
it in those moments in which it
recognizes the most winged words as
inadequate and so carefully avoids
the use of words.
It all helps to make g distin-
guished picture of Nurse Edith
Cavell."