Evening star., 1944-05-17

is intoxicated anu llhS DlollySuo I
DAYS in police court. he will say
to rue and rue again.
This critic. for instance, in sui
the high hope that the movies We're
being influenced by the realism OF
the documentary war film. The,
might even yet learn to look like
life, he said, and at the time he hao
at least a paroxysm of faith in
the words.
The faith weakened yesterday. ir
fact, it almost died. It's virtual de-
struction lay in one of those beau
tiful BOBBY traps which only Holly
wood can devise.
The picture under scrutiny was
Buffalo Bill" which is not being
reviewed here, understand, but
merely commented upon in respect
to this one, smallish detail.
The passage in question is that
one in which Buffalo Bill is rushing
his wife to the obstetrician or his
nearest equivalent in the bowling
wilderness. En- route, they are
passing the cave of an old Indian
woman, who has been left there by
her realistic tribesmen to die But
they do not pass, The baby chooses
that minute to be born, the wife is
whisked into the cave, the ancient
squaw presides over the process and
the birth Is accomplished with a
brilliance that Garfield Hospital
would be proud of.
Always, however, there is one
thing wildly askew in the sequence,
namely, that every one has forgot
ten realism so far that Maureen
O'Haras coiffure remains perfect
as unmussed to the tiniest hair as
If she had just come from the hair
dresser. The rest of her makeup
is equally intact.
We do not believe that life is like
that. In fact, we'll stake our repu-
tation on it despite the fact that
we never have seen a baby born in 6
cave in the wilderness with an an
tique Indian woman pulling one of
those miracles of midwifery. More
over, for all her loveliness, who is
Miss O'Hara that she should not
have her hair mussed to sustain the
hope that the movies will view life
realistically?
She is pretty enough to withstand
a lot of rumpling.
The Mother Goose book OF
rhymes is the last piece of litera-
ture Ill the world which any one
would suspect of creating a prob
lem for the Shubert brothers, Lee
and j, j. 1t has, however, and
Caspar Milquetoast biting a tiger
could not be more newsworthy.
The Shubert problem derived
from Mother Goose's nursery book
has to do with the title of the
play, Ten Little Indians" Agatha
Christie mystery melodrama which
will be presented at the National on
June 5. In way, that title which
was taken from the rhyme dealing
with Ten little Indians standing
in a line" is just about right for
Miss Christie's play. 1t relates to
the fact that eight of her characters
are knocked off, as we say TODAY.
In the course of the play, Just as
the little Indians disappeared, one
by one, in Mother Goose.
What worries the Shuberts is
whether the public will understand
that they have not started produc-
ing children's drama, of all things
William Faulkener writing a SEQUEL
to The Little Minister" or Peter
Pan could not be more unplausible
but the public is a funny thing, and
nobody knows that better than the
Shuberts.
The title will remain tentative
until they are sure not a soul thinks
Ten Little Indians" is just the thing
for the wee kiddies to see.
This is to say it is not.
y X
Speaking of the kiddies, an at
tache of the National Theater whose
name we shall conceal as a reward
for his maintenance of a poker
face during the conversation, tells
OF an interesting passage between