Evening star., 1949-05-10

ting to tear down Paris to get
at the petroleum which they
think lies below the city.
Her friends who live on the
surface of Chaillot confirm her
suspicion that these are wicked
men. accountable for war and
human misery. Unlike her simple,
sane neighbors, however. her de-
mented mind refuses to accept
this condition of human affairs.
There must be some trick by
which these men can be led to
destroy themselves and the count
ess sets her mind to finding it.
To this purpose. she summons
her court. composed of two equal
ly venerable, surely more whacky,
women friends. One Of these mad
eyed crones CEstelle Winwood Is
devoted to a dog that has been
dead for many years. the other
(Nydia Westman) is an ancient
virgin who Is accompanied ev-
erywhere by mob Of imaginary
devoted admirers.
When these two give their ap-
proval. later supported by a third.
who has waited 80 years for
Woodrow Wilson outside the Paris
peace conference halls, the war
mongers are doomed. They are
invited to a party at the count
ess' presumably to be led to
the center of Paris's oil deposit.
but actually to be sent into a
sewer trap from which there is
no exit. This is the countess
idea for eliminating greed. And
the greedy.
Two completely captivating acts
are consumed in making this de-
mentia's most delightful case his
tory in the contemporary thea
ter. The first Is laid in a side
walk cafe of Chaillot. Here with
a sharp sense of character. M.
Giraudoux introduces his people.
the little ones drawn with tender
ness, the Williams with an acid
wit favored with enough of kind
ness to keep them comedy crea-
lures.
It is in the second act that the
play becomes q brilliant distilla-
ton of hilarity. The theater has
rarely seen anything so funny as
Miss Hunts party for her fellow
madwomen. The effort OF the
hostess to pull her own, and her
companions, demented minds into
balance long enough to dispose OF
evil in the world is an unfor-
gettable triumph of laughter over
evil. 1t hits its peak in the trial
scene in which Chaillot's rag
picker, acting as the defendant
for the absentee oil promoters. is
condemned to death in one OF the
theater's most brilliant convic-
tions.
Anything funnier is unimagin-
able, even by the author of Mad
woman of Chaillot," the most
imaginative writer around right
now. ~
The aggregate of acting In the
play at the Belasco theater is
surely the seasons best bet on
Broadway.
Miss Hunt, best known In this
country for her portrait of the
demented Miss Haversham in the
film Great Expectations" is the
ideal collaboration for M. Girau-
doux's enchanting fable. Her mad
ness is acting made magnificent
a portrait of lightning changec
from the demented to the COM
pletely lucid. It's essence Is comic
and remains so even when 1t is
most heavily touched with wist-
fulness or downright poignance.
Dominance such as this, how
ever. cannot obscure a dozen other
performances in 1.-THE Madwoman
of Chaillot." There is perfection,
no less, in the work Of Miss Win
wood, Miss Westman and Doris
Rich as the other unbalanced
grand danes: in that Of John
Carradine as the philosophic rag
picker, Clarence Derwent as the
corporations president, and OF
Vladimir Sokolof as the old pros
pector. Down among the lesser
people. Leora Dana is charming
as the wistful waitress and Alan
Shayne as the boy who reminds
the countess Of her long lost lover.
They are wonderful to see.