Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-03-24

out capturing the warmth and mt
This is not the fault of Louis
Calhern who made such an af-
fecting portrait of the late JUS
tice Holmes on the stage. The
performance here is pretty much
a repeat of the original Emmett
Lavery figure. The pictures flaw
Is in the mechanism of the cam
era itself which becomes here an
instrument that enlarges the he
ro's figure at too much sacrifice
of his human depth.
This is not an uncommon &C.
eurrence in the movies.
The letter of Lavery's play of
the same title (Which had its
premiere in Washington at the
National Theater) is followed
quite closely in the screen play.
In view of the fact that Lavery
wrote the screen script, this is
not at all surprising.
The story, therefore, is con-
cerned with the Washington years
of Justice Holmes life, from his
arrival here in 1902 to the day
of Franklin D. Roosevelt's inau-
guration in 1888. These 81 years
were chockful of personal and pro-
fessional adventures. Large and
small, these qualified the mag
nificent Yankee for an unforget-
able place in the life of the city
and the Nation.
In the most austere of govern
mental environments, he could not
fail to make himself an endearingI
figure as we'll as a great one. The
emphasis of the film is upon the
former aspect of the hero and CAL
hern plays him with an obviously
deep affection. Nevertheless, it all
adds up to a surface portrait short
of the Justices role in life and the
quick, loving memories of it.
AS a piece of personal history, !
1.-THE Magnificent Yankee consti-
tutes a frequently interesting re-
call of details OF Holmes life here.
It is centered principally in the
home at 1870 I street where
Holmes and his wife, the former
Fanny Bowditch, lived out long
and gallant romance.
The 100 block of I street can
feel itself f1attered by the imita-
tion of itself that MGM has ere
ated as the setting for The Mag
nificent Yankee"
It is considerably fancier than
the real thing, but here a great
destiny was energized by the deep
affection of two great human be-
ings. Here came the dolorous
Henry Adams whose fear the coun-
try was going to the dogs always
irritated the Justice: here came |
the cavalcade of secretaries who /
became the childless Justices fos-
ter sons.
And, there were so many others.
Brandeis, for example. The first |
Jewish member Of the Supreme
Court, whose case of confirmation
the Great Dissenter made so
deeply his own. Owen Wister, the
writer. was another and on late
and lonely day after Mrs. Holmes /
death came the newly sworn in
President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Here also came the briefs of 4
great cases which chiseled in his
tory Justice Holmes reputation i
for humanity and independence I:
of mind. the latter of which
earned him the Great Dissenter" Z
tag.
Physically. as on the stage. CAL /
hern is a perfect recall of the ,
famous jurist's figure-the one /,
who could pilfer tulips from the
beds in Lafayette Park. and who,
seeing a pretty girl could say. "Oh,
to be 30 again. The stress on
these small, familiar things, how
ever, is too heavy to let through
the deep qualities of the man be-
hind them. Not all are missing,
but too many.
An equivalent figure in the film
Is that of Mrs. Holmes, played
touchlngly by Ann Harding but
with occasionally too much in !
tensity, which gives the color of Il
coyness to actions that were any,
thing but coy.
The other players ale equally
sincere and some of them arrest /
ing in the portraits of such actors Il
as Eduard Franz as Justice Bran
deis; Philip Over as Author
Wister; Ian Wolfe as the pessimis-
tic Adams; and Edith Evanson as