Evening star., 1944-09-08

q QlSClngUSneQ auQleQCe at LQe "a
entertainment. 1t is a picture of
lectually stimulating. 1t is also 8
superbly human drama and alto
gether satisfying proof Of what tht
movies can do when guided by IN.
telligence.
Lamar Trotti, who wrote II
scintillatingly, Director Henry King
Actor Alexander Knox in the title
role, and the others associated with
"Wilson" have written a splendid
chapter in cinema history.
The special triumph of Wilson
as a piece of cinema art is that the
elaborate setting, the full advan-
tage taken of such brilliant trap
pings as political conventions, in
ternational conferences, and the
like, never obscures the fact that
this is the story of man.
The man Is very dramatic hu-
man, and completely winning one
This Wilson is no austere intel
lectual for all the mask he may
have worn in public where his
passionate idealism imposed a nat.
ural constraint upon him. On the
contrary, he is a man of humor
and lightness of heart when dark
ling fate allows him to be. He is
a man in need of love, at times
desperately, and is twice rewarded
with that to cushion the frustra-
tions and defeats which are his
tragic destiny. In the hearts OF
those who knew him, Author
Trotti found a well-loved man and
that is the way his hero comes
off in the artfully created por-
trait by Knox.
The primary end of those engaged
upon Wilson" was to make an en-
tertaining picture and they have ac-
complished it with dignity. They
are never less than aware of the
great events in which he played a
central role, that he was a man of
fire and'a fatal Zest for battle, and
their screen drama makes much of
these. That it makes all that is
possible may be open to challenge
for there are signs which will permit
the carping to raise the point of
evasiveness. 1t is not conceded, for
instance, that Wilson was a bad
strategist politically, as any passion
ate idealist is very likely to be-
But not even. those who raise the
point will find it modifles the high
quality and vivid color of the dra-
matte biography.
Wilson is President of Princeton
University when the film opens. He
is a droll fellow within the bosom
of his family. His decisions are al
ways made after consulting with his
loving wife. He is vibrantly alive
in the affections of the five Wilson
women. They sing and laugh and
play together, and once the presdm-
ably circumspect schoolmaster is
caught learning the routine Of a
soft-shoe dance. He could write a
book then called Mere Literature, y
and make jokes not much better
than those of the vaudeville come
dians whose most enthusiastic fan
he was. He went to' football games
and was a bad grandstand quarter
back and very lively one.
There is an infectious gayety in
the early areas of Trotti's story to
provide a ringing contrast for the
poignance that is to come.
The great events of the mans life
were always touched by the intima-
ton of tragedy and defeat. In the
main, he was nobly equipped to play
them to their bitter finish. which
he seemed to foresee when he gave
up the cloister at the behest of
Democratic leaders astute enough to
find in his books and speeches the
liberal they thought the times called
for
The opportunity for pageantry is
seized as fully as money and tech
nicolor permit once the picture
leaves the campus phase. Never
has the screen caught the pecu-
liarly frenzied quality of the polit-
ical convention, democracy in its
most flambouyant working aspect.
The great size and bright colors
of the stage on which they begin
to move after his election as Presi-
dent never swallows up the Will
sons. Whenever it is necessary, the
picture becomes little and its char
acters large
X X X X
A veritable stampede of dramatic
events begins for the family almost
instantly after they inspect their
Washington residence and after the
Presidents ladies have received their
gifts because he has "a new job
and a better salary"
Those chiefly stressed are his re-
fusal to be Stampeded into declar-
alton Of war, the second conven-
ton and election, and his subsequent
battle in behalf of the League of
Nations. The picture goes for gran
deur in its reproduction of the
House Of Representatives chamber
wherein the President makes his
dramatic eventual request for
declaration against Germany, after
his furious denunciation of Won
BernStorf in the White House.
Both are superbly made scenes as
are such smaller ones as those in
which the President and his second
wife serve doughnuts and coffee to
debarking troops at the Red Cross
canteen.
1t is one of the most effective con-
tributions to the sense of authen-
ITCHY of Wilson" that in the Sc
quences dealing with his mortal duel
for the League of Nations, the film
makes elaborate use of old neWs-reel
shots. There is about their use the
- 4 AuS