Evening star., 1950-12-21

seem TO lack 1Or prOQlg1OuS CIluQl
young Bobby Henery, who made
Fallen Idol" the moviegoing publ
Jeremy Spenser.
He plays the juvenile genius
in prelude to Fame" which
opened today at the Trans-Lux,
and if the story is implausible. this
is the fault of Jeremy's elders,
not the boys. So far as he is
concerned, he makes good go OF
leading symphony orchestra.
q task that few children OF his
tender years ever have been asked
to assume.
Even more helpful to prelude
to Fame" is that he is able to
suggest how a tender Toscanini
might react to being wrested out
of childhood to stun the musical
world with his burgeoning talent.
Not actually to portray such an
effect, understand, but to suggest
it. In this, he gets some stunning
musical assistance from London's S
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
which adds a dramatic repertory
to the TranS-LuX film.
y X
Aldous Huxley, a precoclouS
artist in his own right, is author
of the original story upon which
''Prelude to Fame" is based.
Huxley followers will recall this as
"young Archimedes, an account
of a prodigy who fell under the
voracious spell of frustrated and
beautiful woman. Innocence sell
dom has been exposed to such
q corrosive experience as that OF
Huxley's child hero, but it must
be said that its relation to reality
is less convincing in the film than
it was in the original fiction.
An earnest and gifted cast plays
the dramatically contrasting
characters in prelude to Fame"
Next to young Spenser. the one
who will fascinate you most is
the youthful Lady Macbeth type
played by Kathleen Byron. This
is one of those female creatures
who always has been an object
of Huxleyan loathing, a selfish
and ruthless beauty who seizes
upon the most vulnerable prey for
the exercise of an evil power.
Until she discovers the boy
Guido's extraordinary musical
gifts, the lad is living a quietly
venturesome. life in a pastoral
Italian setting. A youngish Eng
lish scholar with son OF the same
age has taken Guido in tow and
started him on his musical studies.
It is a fine normal, neighborly re-
lationship until Miss Byron, a
social charlatan of the type that
always invades the arts. steps into
it. Thereafter. the question is
whether poor small Guido will be
devoured by his patroness's ex-
ploitation or redeemed for a rea-
sonably normal boyhood by his
sane neighbors.
There is never a lack of move
ment in prelude to Fame" In
fact, inept editing here and there
suggests that it is moving consid-
erably too fast to make the good
sense to be expected Of it.
However, in it's march from the
first pastoral setting in the Italian
hills through the great concert
halls of Europe, the audience is
introduced to some excellent music
by the Royal Philharmonic Of
England. It also is given chance
to see some excellent mimicry Of
good conducting by the Spencer
lad and some extremely well made
character portraits by others in
the cast.
Miss Byron as the femal demon
is quite expert at her work and
so are Guy Rolfe and Kathleen
Ryan as the intelligent neighbors
who rescue the boy genius.
On the whole, it is quite a huge
cast that is required to tell the
story of Guido's prelude to fame
and it is helpful to the picture
that it is as competent as it is.
X X X X
That 'Voices Of Freedom" re-
cording which WaShington's Sol
Panitz imagined with such excel
lent timing in the light of current
events, has number of surprises.
The one in which this department
found itself most interested was