Evening star., 1943-12-26

Comedy" which was full of poignant
overtones illustrative of the authors
feeling that mans destiny is inter-
mittently tragic and that out of 1t
grows his heroic dimensions.
Hillman Drama Diluted. I
Choice Of the finest piece of drama
turned out by Hollywood this year
Is difficult. 1t lies, in this depart
ment's opinion, between Madame
Curie," which has not been released
nationally, and watch on the
Rhine"
The latter was a war picture with
terrific impact, superb specimen
Of intelligent story telling which was
not helped by the addition of an
epilogue which served the rather
silly purpose Of letting Bette Davis
dominate the conclusion of the pic
ture. 1t needed no such amplifca.
ton and had the effect of diminish
ing the eloquence with which Lillian
Hellman spoke and for which she
previously had captured the Pulitzer
prize. -
Madame Curie," which critics
have seen and is just now being re-
leased on the West Coast, represents
one of the significant advances in
film production. Hollywood has
been notoriously unsuccessful in
dealing with biography, just as has
the theater, but in the life of the
famous French woman scientist it
accomplished something of miracle
in making the laboratory a highly
dramatic setting. 1t represents a
sensational advance over the efforts
to dramatize such lives as that OF
Alexander Graham Bell, Edison and
numerous other vital figures in
American science who needed noth-
ing of the idealization which
favored, and marred, their cinema
biographies. The documentary
quality which is proper and in
evitable one in such pictures is ais
ways strongly present in Madame
Curie" and proves that it is not
necessary to be afraid of 1t as Holly
wood too often has been.
1t would have been impossible to
leave This Is the Army" off any
l0-best list this year. In the in
| lection of some name players into
the cast-names always look so at
tractiVe on marquees-Warner Bros.
managed to retain the vibrant, vital,
llght-hearted spirit Of a wonderfully
balanced piece of entertainment. It
would have been the outstanding
musical film in any year, was easily
that in period which found the
cinema struggling vapidly to find
something to sing about. It's closest
competitor, incidentally, turned out
to be the lavishly colored. hugely
cast "As Thousands Cheer" a film
which introduces Jose Iturbi as one
of the drollest comedians upon
which the movies have been able
to lay their hands.
! The documentary Of the year, in
a year when there were many Of
them and many excellently made
ones, clearly was Artkino's BLACK
Sea Fighters" Here was a great
story, one of the wars most dra-
matte subjects, and In telling 1t so
tersely and with unfailing force,
the Russians produced picture
equivalent in merit to Desert Vic
tory" therefore deemed the ulti-
mately surprising piece of factual
movie making.
In making "Lassie Come Home"
Metro -Goldwyn-Mayer gave the
public one of the few truly fine
animal pictures in several years,
and one of the most visually beau-
tiful films of the season.
Of pictures which did not make
this possibly eccentric preferred list,
the most likely surprising one is
For Whom the Bell Tolls" II
beauty alone were the determining
quality. it would have been i'm
possible to ignore it for Paramount
accomplished something of miracle
in photographing Hemingway's ac-
count of the Spanish revolution. As
a story, however, it lacked action
that was nearly so dramatic as
the setting.
And now to duck in case any one
wants to hurl a brick right through
the list