Evening star., 1940-07-23

through to the last happy killing on
the terrific casualty list. This wild
imaginativeness of the creators OF
''The Frog" makes its production
one Of the most complicated Jobs
In the theater's history. but it
comes OH smoothly enough from an
atmospheric standpoint, That en-
courAges hope for the project a.
soon as the characters remember
one another's names, what they are
to say, and how quickly.
The Frog for those upon whom
Wallace's art impinged only light
ly, is the tale Of an arch criminal
whose own district leaders do not
know who he is. He has a way OF
enmeshing the innocent In his MUIR
derous plans, Of having them MUIR
der each other when they no logger
are useful. All of his criminal en-
ergies, on whatever mammoth prof.
ects they may have been nourished,
are devoted throughout the play to
winning a proud and beautiful girl
whom he covets more than the
wealth and power which have made
Scotland Yard so angry with him.
He does not get her, the cur. Nor
does any one get any more of the
plot from this department, which
had to dig 1t up for itself.
Among the miscellaneous men,
beasts and damsels Gin and out Of
distress) in the cast of THE Frog"
the more likely performances were
those of Maccubin Waters, the
smoothly hero: william Zukert, who
was an engaging detective sergeant
when he was not having line trouble !:
Edna Evans, as the beautiful
heroine; Kenn Romney, as the guess
what in policeman's clothing. and
Jean Miller, as the gaudy tool Of
the wicked band.
With 13 scenes to contemplate,
Don Jones did not hesitate to turn
out one Of his best Jobs to date, and
a very good job that would be.
For all the anonymity of its 400
actors, even the 73 who have promi-
nent speaking parts, there is one
considerable name associated with
"The Ramparts We Watch" The
name is that which belongs to Louis
de Rochemont. producer-director of
the picture which opens so ceremo-
niously tonight at Keiths.
A man who combines a lofty artis-
try, dynamism and corpulence, De
Rochemont' name is better known
in the trade than out Of it. Many
more persons. for instance, know
Clark Gable. but none with more
admiration than his public knows
De Rochemont and his work.
The general public, therefore.
would not be without justification if
it looked up from its iced tea to ask
blandly: Who is this guy De Roche
mont?
The quickest answer would be that
he is the chap who heads March of
Time in a production way. It is
too quick, however, to give De Roche
mont his due. Another way to de-
scribe him is to say that he has been
making successful motion pictures
for Is years, during which he has
spent only 48 hours in Hollywood
He does not like Hollywood, to be
frank about it, not actively but pas
sively in the manner of a man who
is too occupied with his own work.
The 48 hours De Rochemont did
spend in Hollywood were with cro-
nies Walter Wanger, Frank Capra
and Walt Disney, group which fits
excellently into the limitations of
that adage, Tell me who your COM
panions are, ETC.
That the movies, documentary
type, were De Rochemont's destiny
became manifest along about 1912,
when he was 13 years old. While
other lads of his age were worrying
about Hans Wagner's batting aver
age, De Rochemont was fashioning
himself c:mera out of a few odds
and ends and blue print
he found In a scientific maga-
zine. BY 1916 he was a cam
eraman. So much of one, in
deed, that when the German SUBJ
marine Deutschland hove into New
London, Conn, he shot down from
his native Boston to film the event.
The Deutschland arrival was an