Evening star., 1942-12-20

III u dliSlcIl llllS IllS IlONCl lilGO III dIIl
avoided appeals to the emotion viii
trifying.
These unidentified people in bond
age possessed high courage and deep,
smouldering resentment which ex-
pressed itself in unique forms of
sabotage. They had a supreme con-
tempt for the local Quisling. would
have liked to see him publicly hu-
inflated and humbled, as would
most of Steinbeck's audiences.
Herein the play was disappointing.
1t chagrined others that the Nazi
officers were drawn in appealing
terms. One. in particular, a general
staff potential, seemed to exemplify
all Of the hateful qualities of mill
tarism, with the rules book ever
ready for minor breaches of the
Hitler code. Audiences lived for
three acts in the high hope that he
would eventually step on the wrong
toes, be taught that even men in
uniform can be human beings. 1t
never happened, and again the audi
ence eagerness for modification and
degradation was not served Nun
ally Johnson's screen play for The
Moon Is Down" will not treat Hit
ler's officers with such kind consid-
Grafton, feeling the calm of Amer
lean family life will not be disturbed
if the Berlin sadists are given a
spoonful of their own kind of medi-
cine.
Konstantin Simonov's play, THE
Russian People," with its American
acting version by Clifford Odets,
makes no such condescension for the
enemy. 1t was written in the white
heat OF present-day thought and
feeling in Moscow, and he dipped his
pen into the well of hate.
For him the Nazis are accursed
people, glorying in the power which
they can vent in cruelties, sniveling
when fate confronts them with a
crisis, yellow in heart and spirit.
In simple, compelling episodes he
tears the hypocritical mask from
their faces. shows how readily they
can be outwitted by the superior
intellects of the Soviet, backed up
by unified purpose.
Nothing could be more savage
than his analysis of neurotic Ger
man officer who revels in the suf-
fering of others and takes a sadistic
delight in torture. Simonov con-
structs him carefully as a monster.
1t Is dramatic buildup of derision
and mockery, to support the pro-
voked poisoning which follows This
is the old 10000 melodramatic
technique to paint the villain in
the blacklist terms and have him
meet a just retribution
All the walls of Simonov's scorn
are turned on the Russian Quisling
(played with great power and ef-
fectiveness bv H. A. Krumschmidt)
nor the satisfaction which the play
wright finds in evolving things for
payment in full by the traitor.
Those who see The Russian
People and realize that it has the
full blessing of Joseph Stain, must
reach conviction that a separate
peace between Moscow and Berlin
is beyond the realm of today's re-
ality.
If one follows the headlines and
the victories of the Russian armies,
one wonders If there is such relaxed
discipline and unmilitarylike COM
radeship as that disclosed at the
headquarters of the guerrilla band
The German spy Is able to in
gratiate himself into the Red forces
without any extensive research as
to his past history. Valya is sus-
picious, conscious that she recog-
nized his voice as something sinister,
but the others accept him. Simonov
excuses this through the death of
the regular intelligence officer and
the demands of expediency. When
the spy's deviltry is eventually re-
vealed the playwright uncovers him
as a whining coward, crying and
begging for mercy.
There may be the spirit Of COM
radeship and intimate relation be-
tween officers and men that Simonov
depicts-this critic wouldn't attempt
to say or dispute it-as the product
of hardships and relaxed routine
enforced by conditions. AS a war
correspondent for the Red Star,
Simonov must be accepted, but to
some it reacted against the effec-