Evening star., 1952-09-12

uNoAlUOAA1ty VI 1AAAt11OAly oCAGCI dS
case you have not looked up
lately. is the young find who
looks like the late Rudolph Valen-
tino.
A cinema find" can get lost
mighty quickly if he is long out
of work. Hence THE Brigand."
The film at the Metropolitan
offers Dexter a two-headed oppor-
tunity in manner of speaking.
This is to say, he is permitted to
play two roles; one that of a
pleasure-loving young king who
would rather be a night-club
dancer, the other that of a noble
young adventurer who takes his
politics seriously.
DeXter'S impact in the two roles
is unlikely to make any one forget
Valentino.
The suggestion of "The Brig
and" if it actually suggests any
thing, is that Columbia is parody
ing old-fashioned romantic melo-
drama. Its setting is the country
of Mandora. Things there are in
a worse mess than anywhere, in
cluding here.
The young King Lorenzo is
carrying on flagrantly with
blond dancer he has installed as
a member of the royal court. He
would be out like Farouk were it
not for the loyalty of Prime
Minister who is willing to die to
make a real king of Lorenzo. It
is the latter who arranges a po-
lltical marriage with Princess
Theresa of Coruna. a match which
would have set Lorenzo in the path
of kinghood if he had not been
shot just before the betrothal
ceremony. -
Lorenzo is plunked by an assas-
sins bullet. however. and his
double is called to fake the royal
duties pending the kings recovery.
Neither Director Phil Karlson
nor his actors seem to care a /
hang about Dumas version of love
and politics in Mandora. They
act instead like actors who have
a script to get through. Most in
teresting performance, and one of
the worst. in the picture is that of
Gale Robbins as the dancing girl. q.
whose diction and department
must have come as a terrible sur
prise to the Emily Post of that
day in Mandora.
X X
REFUGEES RETURN: A once !
familiar face around here will be
turning up again this fall. It is the
face that belongs to Playwright
Moss Hart.
Hart is due to arrive the day be-
fore his latest comedy of Sorts"
opens a fortnight'S engagement /
at the National, prior to it's Broad
way production. The Climate of
Eden" is the title finally settled
upon for the play which will open
at the National theater, October 9. /
Hart, one of the dramas liveli-
est phrase-makers, found the title
of the play in a line of the script, !
one of the most trustworthy meth
ods OF titling play.
THE Climate of Eden" is the
nrst Hart play which is not en-
tirely original. It is an adapta-
ton OF novel by Edgar Mittle-
holzer. Shadows Move Among
Them" The plays setting is the
tungles Of British Guiana and
It is concerned with the lives of
a missionary and his family who
create their own civilization in
preference to the general one from
which geography removes them.
1sobel Elsom. last seen on Broad
way in The Innocents" and |
John Cromwell will have the lead
ing roles in The Climate of Eden"
which will be produced by Joseph
Hyman and Bernard Hart, the
latter Moss brother.
Cromwell. for many years
Hollywood film director of note.
returned to the theater last fall
to play the brief, extraordinarily
rich role Of the hero's father in
Point Of No Return" It was
every ones notion of the best
played supporting role of the
1951-52 season. Including this /
reviewers.
X \ 4
BULLETIN BOARD: Something