Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-25

The thought that occurred Il
come to make this movie? :
The answer, pieced together
painfully as Clark Gable. Lana
Turner and Victor Mature strug-
gled with Hitler's armies, is:
Once upon a time, in an aber-
rant moment, the studio made a
story buy. Two days later, much
more clear-headed, it took an
other look at it's purchase and
hid the script in the back of its
bottom drawer. Out of sight a
few days, it also went out of
mind-just as the adage says.
Still. there is no lasting escape
from folly. Came another day
and the Cancelled check paid to
the writer's found its way back to
the studio. Got to do something
about this" the man said. Cant
waste money on unused stories.
But what to do?"
well, there is always Gable
and Turner" his secretary sug-
gested meekly.
That may not be how it was,
but it is how it could have been.
Betrayed" overlong and I'M
exciting for all the explosive
surface of its material and the
explosive qualities of its players.
does have one redeeming virtue.
It is shot against a background
of Holland, a picture postcard
country if there ever was one.
and also one capable of stealing
scenes from even Miss Turner.
The plot-coming back to that
again-concerns an intelligence
operation in which the appar-
emily docile Dutch resisted the
Germans to the hilt of their
guile and courage with the help
of the allies to whom they pro-
vided vital information.
Cables role in this adventure
Is that of colonel in the in
telligence of Queen Wilhelmina
shattered army. When he is
tabled by the Nazis and no
longer useful on his home
ground. he escapes to England to
mastermind the resistance car
ried out in person by Miss Tur-
ner and Victor Mature. In this,
they are more successful in sug-
costing that it was very long
war than in making it winning
one.
It apparently is Gottfried
Reinhardt's premise in directing
Betrayed" that with three such
high-voltage performers as his,
he can afford to linger lndefi-
nitely over the romantic ele-
ments of his script. The intima-
ton of this dallying, of course,
is that there is a chance Mature
might take the girl away from
Gable. Naturally, any one above
the age of 6 knows that a star
of Gables stature and income
could lose Miss Turner to Mature
only by default.
The latter, however, plays in
some ways the most refreshingly
written of the many characters
in betrayed" He is a deSper-
ately reckless young man putting
on a show of bravado to impress,
of all people, his Nom to whom
he is acutely devoted.
Gable who gives his usual crisp
performance regardless of any
lack Of enthusiasm he might feel
for the script, gets admirable
support from a number of sub
ordinate performers in the Pal
ace melodrama. Louis Calhern,
for example, is dry and droll
fellow as a commanding general
in the spy service: Wilfrid Hyde
White cuts a clipper figure as
a man of equal rank in the same
trade: o. E. Hasse is effective as
Gables opposite number in the
Nazi forces, and Mall MacGinniS
Is workmanlike as a rugged re-
sistance man.
Betrayed" is designed for
those who feel ardently about
seeing three such steamy per-
formers as Gable, Mature and
Miss Turner involved in tri-
angle.
BROADWAY ECHO: From the
reviews of "All Summer Long"
which opened in New York
Thursday night after a pre-
Broadway tryout here:
Taken on it's own terms as a
character study, All Summer
Long is a poignant and beauti-
full play. 1t is the work of Rob-
ert Anderson whose Tea and
sympathy was the first piece of
art last season. Adapted from
a novel by Donald Wetzel. it
opened at the Coronet last eve
ning-the first piece of art this
year." Brooks Atkinson, the
New York Times.
The moods of the play are
rueful. violent, ironic. But they
are terribly studied moods.
worked out with a fearful delib-
Grafton. They come in carefully
marked off little sequences. each
LATE SAOW1ONlGAI