Evening star., 1943-04-03

the picture profitable, the latter an
no more than the just due Of the
brothers.
Latest picture in the series thus
dedicated is THE Hard Way" which
opened Yesterday at the Earle With
Ida Lupino, one of tragedy's fairest
hand-maidens in the principal role,
1t quite meets the essential require
ments that the sin and death must
be dramatic 1t undoubtedly also
will meet the implied third one,
namely that it shall be profitable.
Outside of family laboring the
moral, The Hard Way" is an en-
crossing piece of screen drama, well
acted. effectively directed and suff1-
GENTLY varied in content to keep the
attention from Tagging once it gets
beyond the Introductory sequences
Not only does it have elements of
comedy. poignance, music and spec
tacle but the studio has been wise
enough to provide Miss Lupino effec-
tive assistance in the persons of
Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Jack
Carson and others of praiseworthy
skill The Hard Way" you see, is
big picture and when the plot is
hardly up to carrying it, the cast
agreeably turns. in and lends a
prettily helping hand.
Miss Lupino. of course, is the focal
character in The Hard Way"
When the camera picks her up.
she is an underprivileged young wife
in mill town, girl who wanted
very little of life and is turning into
q Lady Macbeth because she cannot
even get that much. Her latent and
fatal ambition expresses itself finally
when her beloved younger sister re-
veals enough talent as an enter
tainer to get a job in small-time
vaudeville unit.
From there on, the older sister
takes over. Fair play of the type
she was denied never occurs to her.
More heartless she is than her de-
serted millhand husbands old en-
ployers ever dared to be- The hopes
she daShes, the friendships she de-
ooA oyc OAiS Sol CC1S SllC W4OShS, OllC
loves she besmirches, the suicides
she inspires are the coldly inevitable
by-products of her determination
that the young sister shall be a
musical comedy, then stage star.
That is the sort of material that
brings out the best actress in Miss
Lupino and The Hard Way" Is vir-
tually resplendent with it.
The picture is not so definitely
hers. however, that young Miss
Leslie does not have a chance to
glitter, too. She does no less as the
pliable younger sister who starts life
as sweet girl graduate in a mill
town ice cream parlor, climbs to a
terrific success in the theater, be-
comes an alcomaniac and has
Satans own time before she breaks
the Lupino dominance and settles
down to simple happiness. The in
cident which envelops the Misses
Lupino and Leslie in putting them
through all this travail is we'll varied
In spots. 1t is happily we'll enough
varied to demonstrate that Miss
Leslie is a talented person in the
fields OF singing and dancing, as well
rs straight-away acting.
For all the grim sound Of it there
Is comedy in THE Hard Way" 1t
derives chiefly from the per-
formances of Carson and Morgan.
They travel through the picture as
a couple Of small time vaudevillians,
Carson as Nebraska bred hoofer
whose nature is as simple as his
routines. Morgan as a fairly hard
bitten fellow who is brave enough
to stand up and slug it out with Miss
Lupino.
Take it all in all. the Lady
Macbeth theme has not had such
elaborate. nor so successful, treat
ment in Hollywood in long time.
1t should stop you engrossingly
In whatever tracks you may be max
ing toward the movies this week.
The high light of the Earle's brief
stage show this week is a tribute to
the American Red Cross, devised
and staged effectively by Harry An
ger. Making use of a cast of 20,
including Lee Vickers as narrator,
the production dramatizes the
multiplicity of activities which "the
greatest Mother in the world en-
cages in today.
Other features of the four scene
revue include the sparkling comedy
act of Jack Marshall, the Gautier
steeplechase act involving those
talented ponies, and a fetching