Evening star., 1940-10-12

more than a wizard at producing
unbeaten football teams. He might
have been a great research chem
ist, he was a psychologist, philoso-
pher, kindly, courageous. and re-
sourceful man whose life was an in
spiration. These many facets of the
man are nicely developed in Robert
Buckner's screen play, based upon
the private papers of Mrs. Rockne
and the University Of Notre Dame,
whose campus framed his brilliant
career.
There is a lot Of football, the
colorful kind which Rockne taught,
in this biography of the famous
coach. 1t is actual football, too:
many Of the sequences newsreel IL
brary shots of the games which
Rockne master minded. They make
as fine a series of climaxes as the
most clamorous of football and film
fans could ask. The gridiron Sc
quences have not been overdone,
however. as they easily might have
been for TIE script has sought out
the story OF Rockne in season and
out, from bo} hood in Norway to his
death in Storm wrecked airplane.
One sees him as ragamuffin
sandlot football player in Chicago.
husky, ugly mail clerk, an oldish,
hard working honor student at
Notre Dame. the awkward suitor of
Bonnie Skilews who might veer
away from a proposal to mediate
upon a new football formation, the
acid tongued teacher of chemistry,
the research assistant to Notre
Danes famous Father Nieulands,
the absent minded husband and de-
voted father, the idol of the school
kids of South Bend. the wise and
patient coach who knew when to
be gentle and when waspish, the
man who found the basis of the
famous Rockne shift while watching
a line of dancing girls.
1t is a well-rounded Rockne one
gets in this careful culling Of the
million and one anecdotes about the
man which are part of the Ma
tons sport lore.
One of the most dramatic of the
lot is that dealing with the devel-
opment of his greatest player,
George Gipp. The famous Clipper,
played by Ronald Reagan, may be
an exaggerated portrait on the cocky
side, but he is one of the most en-
gaging of the many characters who
thread their way through the vivid
story of Rockne.
Among the incidental characters
care has been taken to develop
host of those whose lives were most
identified with Rocknes,
some of his greatest stars,
the famous -Four Horse
men. Among the subordinate per-
formances one which stands out
with especial brilliance is that of
Albert Basserman in the role of
the earnest, gentle, scholarly Father
Donald Crisp is ef-
fective as Father John Callahan:
Gale Page makes a warm, under
standing helpmate of Bonnie Skiles
Rockne; Owen Davis, jr., does hand
somely by Gus Dorais, Rockne's
famous co-player on that Notre
Dame team which whipped the in
vincible Army. Nick Lukats, whose
name used to blaze from headlines
when he was a Roclne player, han
dies one Of the Four Horsemen roles.
Like veteran.
Lloyd Bacon's direction keeps the
picture keyed at a speed that Rock
himself would have admired.
On the stage this week at the
Earle are two very important items,
the Andrews sisters, that fabulously
popular swing trio, and the Roxy
cites in their fabulously fine caval-
cade number. The Andrews fam
lily, whose type Of singing produces
ecstasy in their fans, run through
a number of their later best-selling
records to achieve a maximum of
for their efforts.
The comedy portion of the bill is
handled effectively by Gene Shell
ton, the acrobatic portion by a cou-
pie of girls billed as the Hollywood
Co-eds.
What really counts, of course, are
the Andrews girls and the Roxy
cites.