Evening star., 1942-06-16

the lot. When her beauty fades,
If it ever does coming from within
rather than being a mere facade,
there still will be roles calling for
an actress. Garbo has left no doubt
that that is what she is, even when
the artistry of her writer's and
directors has seemed almost grue-
somely questionable.
II Metro cannot find the story
for her, other studios which have
looked at her through jealous eyes
for nearly two decades would un-
doubtedly welcome the opportunity.
The .banality and bad taste of
'Two-Faced Woman" is profoundly
something they would not hold
against her.
Miss Shearer's career has been
approaching the shadows ever since
the death of her husband, the late
Irving Thalberg, one of the true
genluseS of the movies. In Thai
berg'S day and under his guidance
Miss Shearer achieved her greatest
brilliance, its peak perhaps her per-
formance as Elizabeth Barrett in
The Barretts of Wimpole Street"
Miss Shearer was hardly the actress
one would expect to find following
Katharine Cornell in any role. but
her Elizabeth was creditable piece
of craftsmanship.
After Thalberg's death there were
stories, tinged with malice, that she
was able to get her choice of roles
In M-G-M productions. Either the
stories were untrue or Miss Shearer's
taste in parts was highly question:
able. At any rate, she appeared in
succession of bad pictures, or at
least impressively inferior ones, the
last of which was bit Of sophisti-
Gated fluff salvaged from Noel Cow
ards Tonight at 8:30." Her next
assignment, and the one which many
are convinced will be her last, was
in the remake of Her Cardboard
Lover" That once satiric romantic
piece in recent years has degen-
Grated into stock item devised to
stir the jaded lives of summer thea
ter audiences.
1t is scheduled for release this
summer, along with several other
items of similar history, probably
as a compensation for old summer
theatergoers who have neither the
tires, the gas nor the theaters as a
means OF escape this year.
Miss Crawford has had more as
signment trouble than almost any
actress ever to find her name on
MGMS payroll. A couple of years
ago, still finding herself pursued
by the villain after all those seasons
IN the movies, she protested with
all the yehemence at her command.
That was a deal of vehemence for
any one woman to have and Miss
Crawford managed to get a couple
of good roles in Susan and God"
and "A Woman's Face" The critics
who were as tired of Miss Crawford
being pursued as she herself was,
welcomed the change and wrote
rather happily of what it meant in
her life, those Of audiences and
their own.
The part apparently was the last
of its kind, for Miss Crawford has
been conspicuously missing from the
screen of late.
Her reported interest in the pro-
duction of pictures is being watched
closely by many who have admired
her ability to accomplish her goal
all except that one of being the
pretty girl, a poor mannikin or
something, in a melodrama.
X \ X
Miss 10y, like the others, has
been having part trouble for long
time, the most conspicuous phase of
it being in the exhausted humor of
the Thin Man" series. Since Love
Crazy" last year, nothing has come
her way that would make her want
tn stav in the movies