Evening star., 1943-01-17
Some British
Reactions to Our
Film Colony
Admiration Expressed
For Bogarfs Tough
Talk, Crosby's Groom
BY GLADDEN. Hill.
LONDON


Humphrey Bogart Is probably q
better-known American Ambassa-
dor to England than John G. Win
ant, who gets paid for it,
The English still like to think of
the United States as land with a
gangster Just around every corner.
the way Broadwayites dream of
Indians west of the Hudson even
though they know it's not true. and
Bogart as the latest apotheosis of
the American tough guy has at
tanned the status of an adopted
English hero
Crooked or honest, THE Big Shot"
or ACROSS the Pacific" the picture
makes no difference. He could come
to the local cinema" in "Rebecca
of Sunnybrook Farm" as long as
he talked out of the side of his
mouth and the gentry and peas
antry would still turn out en- masse,
likewise talking gleefully out of the
sides Of their mouths for the eve
ming.
Reactions Different.
English reactions to American pic
lures are often different from what
you might expect, and it might be
q constructive exercise in Anglo
American understanding to review
the impressions made on our Lon
don cousins by movies you've been
seeing yourself lately.
Pictures with grass-roots Ameri-
can subjects oddly enough don't
necessarily lay eggs in England.
yankee Doodle Dandy" was only
mildly appreciated, the English pub
lie being completely ignorant of
George M. Cohan and hardly in a
position to appreciate the kick of
Fourth Of July celebration in Provi-
dence, r. l., any more than Kansan
would thrill to Guy Fawkes Day in
Manchester.
Yet My Gal Sal" full of Banks
of-the- Wabash, Yankee medicine
shows and Tin Pan Alley, was a
smash hit, held over four weeks
possibly because Rita Hayworth and
Victor Mature mean the same thing
In any language.
"The Little Foxes" was criticized
as lacking social significance, the
critics missing its subtle treatment
of a phase of Southern reconstruc-
ton days.
But Pride of the Yankees" was
cordially received simply on its
merits as moving love story in
spite of the fact that the English
know as little about baseball as an
Eskimo does about bathing suits.
"Miniver" Had a Fault.
Mrs. Miniver," that epic of
British stanchness in wartime, was
fairly well received on its home
grounds, but failed to arouse the
furor of tears and cheers it did in
America.
The class-conscious English quick
" identified the Minivers as upper
middle class, and as such repre-
sentatves of only one narrow layer
of England's courageous coping with
the war. They didn't think the
other groups should have been left
out
The American counterpart of
Mrs. Miniver," THE War Against
Mrs. Hadley," got mixed reactions
ranging from mild praise to deri-
sion, the latter represented in the
comment, Hollywood, having done
with the brave British, now shows
the American matron finding out
there's war on, my dear"
Although the English are sup
posed to be slow on humor, they can
take the daff1est America can give.
Some of the most sedate English
people I know howled their heads
off at Olsen and Johnson's irrita-
tional antics in "Hellzapoppin."
And although the standard Eng
fish vaudeville turn takes you back
to the Bijou in Buffalo in 1912, the
audiences seem to be quite up to
date. They laugh at the hi-jinks of
Abbott and Costello on the screen
but regularly identify their routines
as ancient bits from burlesque.
They Love Bing.
Crosby can do no wrong. Holiday
Inn" has been running steadily at
one London movie palace (not
Buckingham for months and the
latest Crosby Hope picture, THE
Road to Morocco" has livened con-
versation all over town.
The everyday Hollywood pot
boilers get about the same reception
In England as in America. Typical
appraisals:
THE Magnificent Dope"-"Com-
forting comedy that urges you not
to work too hard or earn too much"
Forest Rangers" - Fred Mac
Murray, Paulette Goddard and Su-
san Hayward playing on the old
triangle among the high timber"
"Jackass Mail"-"Wallace Beery
still bumbling about the West in
those sensible woolens that keep his
big heart warm"