Evening star., 1944-01-30

were rather rush jobs based upon
quick research.
The difference in their measures
of success is attributed to the cir
|cumstances that Mr.. Anderson, who
used to be journalist, chose to be
Ia playwright. Mr.. Hart. on the
other hand, forewent his experience
as dramatist to become a journalist
to the extent Of turning out a sort
of living newspaper version of the
mighty organism which is the Army
Air Forces. In the comparison of
the two forms, that of Winged Vic
tory is patiently the more effective.
The general failure of the theater
to manage the theme of war con-
trasts sharply with the success the
movies have achieved in the same
field.
MIR. Hawks on War.
A dozen pictures have succeeded
in catching the full violence of the
worlds greatest paroxysm. of re-.
tlecting the horror of destruction
realistically. The best Of the group
perhaps is "Air Force" which had
an almost documentary quality in
its narration Of the symbolic
story of a bomber wonderfully
named Mary Ann" The vast sweep
OF the war over the face of the
world was powerfully compressed
within Howard Hawks picture.
More recently, dealing with another
branch of the fighting service in
Corvette K-225," Mr.. Hawks DEM
onstrated that there was nothing
f1ukey about his first achievement.
Another picture which falls into
the same category of excellence is
Sahara" Into this tight, grim
story Of a tank crew lost in the
North African desert, was written
all of the gruesome splendor of the
campaign which was roughly the
subject of Mr. Anderson's unsuccess-
full play.
It's sense Of urgency to make each
successive war picture more scopish
than its predecessor has led Holly
wood to overdo dramatic impact
upon occasion without totally de-
feating its purpose to reproduce the
war realistically. That is illustrated
in the recent Destination Tokyo, /"
a screenplay which strung together
virtually every incident in the rich
annals OF the submarine service, in
cluding the one about the emergency
appendectomy performed while the
craft was under the widest depth
bomb attack ever conceived. It Gre
ated the definite impression that no
one submarine could be exposed to
all that ill-luck, but 1t did not keep
Destination Tokyo" from being an
engrossing picture.
Versed in Cataclysms.
It's great experience in the han
ding Of spectacle has stood Holly
wood In excellent stead in the pro-
duction Of war pictures. The earth
quakes, typhoons, monsoons, tor
nadoes, hurricanes, floods, fires and
other disasters of prewar pictures
were beautiful training in the man
ufacture Of violence. All the tricks
were there waiting to be used when
bombs Of one kind or another sup
planted the prewar variety of cata-
clysn on Hollywood's schedule.
The perfected use Of technicolor
turned out to be another asset in
reproducing the war realistically
The colors may not be identical with
those which soldiers will remember,
but they are close enough to escape
the challenge Of audiences who want
vivid colors without reference to
their exactness.
Many other factors make it much
easier for the movies than for the
theater to deal with the theme of
war, which they no doubt will con-
tinue to do and much more ef-
fectiyely,