Evening Star Newspaper, May 13, 1929, Page 17

THE EVENING MAY, 13, 1929. TAR. WASHINGTON. D. C.. MONDAY, ~ RATORYTOFLODD BRITISH POLTIS OPENING ATTRACTIONS IN WASHINGTON | | | METROPOLITAN—"The Desert Song.” THEATERS | “The Desert Song" is an innovatio: !h.ve outdone himself in elaborateness. | bill, including an unusually entertain- i The complacence and sympathetic un- | ing number by he Jazzmanians, led | derstanding of the millionaire father of Samuel Korman, offering international his son's generation is quite ideal, the | variations on the popular hit, “That unger generation’s idea of what would | Precious Little Thing Called Love": ENGLAND 2 WEEKS 1,718 Candidates Already in‘ Field for 615 Seats in Parliament. By the Associated Press. LONDON, May 13—The coming fort- night in Great Britain will see a flood of election oratory almost unprece- dented in the history of the country and leading up to the general elections on May 30. For the 615 seats in the next Parliament there are already in the field 1,718 candidates, and nomina- tions do not close for a week; of these 583 are Conservatives, 566 are Labor- ites, 560 Liberals, 31 Communists and | 27 independents. Each of these candidates may conservatively expected to make speeches before election day. A pecul- iar character of the campaign is that the three leading parties are fighting for almost identical ,things. It is a struggle not over what is to be attained but how to attain it. Identity of Party Aims. The election address to his Seaham constituents by Ramsay MacDonald, Labor leader, clearly demonstrates this identity of aims. Prime Minister Stan- ley Baldwin and David Lloyd George, his Liberal opponent, piace the unem- ployment problem to the forefront of their platform, and so does Mr. Mac- Donald. Mr. Baldwin advocates wiping out the slums and reduction of maternal mortality. So doe: Mr. MacDonald and although Mr. Lloyd George's election address is not yet out, he most certainly will advocate such social reforms. In | the fleld of foreign policy naturally | all must advocate peace and disarma- ment. | There are, nevertheless, some_funda- | mental points of difference. For ex- ample, the labor spokesman advocates nationalization of the coal mining indus- try, and nationalization in any form is | repugnant to the Conservati In the | same way the Conservative lend:‘r‘ wants the greatest possible extension of “safeguarding” duties for industry short of duties on foods or a general tariff. Mr. Baldwin remembers his | smashing defeat in 1923 on the general | protective issue. On this point the Conservatives come into direct conflict | with the Liberals and their strong free | trade policy. | Protection Wedge View. The Liberals regard safeguarding duties as the thin end of a wedge of protection which almost all Conserva- tives favor but dare not venture to ad- vocate in the face of the general known attitude of the country on this ques- tion. The Labor party, although nomi- nally free traders, is less concerned ut safeguardin: d the subject was be 10 | - (hold of Pontypool. SEENONNEW LINES Prediction Made Incoming Parliament Will Develop Novel Social Standards. ¥ the Associated Press. GLASGOW, Scotland, May 13.—Brit- ish politics are changing. The soci values which once set their impress on the House of Commons are disappear- ing. No longer is it the best gentle- men’s club in Europe. The older parties are leveling down, the newer parties are leveling up and whichever party wins the great fight it is obvious the next Parliament will advance a step further along the road of new soctal standards. Strange Political Affiliations. All the parties have candidates whose affiliations would a few years ago have been regarded as utterly unorchodox. Gwilym Rowlands, an ex-miner, recent- ly succeeded Col. Gretton, a millionaire, as chairman of the National Unionist Association, Rowlands is now the Con- servative candidate in the labor strong- Another trade unionist is Conservative candidate in Normanton. The Liberals are seeking a constit- uency for Miss Nancy Stewart-Parnell, a school teacher in a London suburb and a niece of the famous Irish leader of the last century. Two daughters of belted earls, a former domestic servant and an ex-policewoman are among the women candidates for Labor. The novelist Sir Hall Caine has one son running for the Conservative and another running for Labor. The former minister of finance for the Punjab is Labor candidate in Norfolk. Other Unusual Developments. A cousin of the Archbishop of Can terbury is the Independent Labor party nominee in Oldham. A son of Lord Tredegar is endeavoring to recapture for the Conservatives the Limehouse division, in which Lloyd George made | some of his most bitter attacks on the government. Two women are fighting in Bothwell. Lanark, one of the few constituencies where the male voters remain in the majority. Not the least of the paradoxes of the election is furnished by a Glasgow So- cialist weekly, which replies to a state- ment on unemployment by Premier Baldwin by quoting the Prince of Wales. not even mentioned in the address by Mr. MacDonald. Mr. MacDonald this year is seeking a safer seat than his old Abernavon di- vision of Glamorganshire and since it is a mining district he appropriately pays in his address the greatest attention to the coal problem. Relief of distress in this industry and other social reforms were the high points of his address. COLUMBIA—“The Letter.” A visit to the talkie version of Somer- | set Maugham's “The Letter,” which is | showing at the Columbia this week. reveals strikingly why it has been ac- claimed critically as one of the mile- stones in early talking motion pictures. It was much anticipated in advance of its premiere. | per cent of the press agent's boast, | there remained a great deal of convinc- {ing prapaganda. “The Letter" was to | illustrate a few things in advanced | talkie technique; it was to reveal a | greater elasticity of action, allow a | wider scene in relation to the tyranni- | cal microphones, a smoother use of | incidental sound, a refinement of the | reproduction of dialogue. It was not a vain boast—“The Letter” has done these things. It is a curiously dissatisfylng story, a tantalizing treatment of melodrama There were many in Sunday’s first au- | dience who audibly commented on the | abruptness of the ending, leaving the | action really suspended in the air and making the previous narrative practi- | cally useless as far as the development | of & conclusion was concerned. The ‘plol moves in a perfect circle, coming | back where it started and making an- | noyingly frustrate the interlude of | murder and duplicitl. It is as much a | harassed Mrs. Crosby who fades out at | the end as was introduced in the open- | ing scene; retribution serves no end | here; one’ feels that a man has died utterly in vain. a woman has gone | through a wracking trial for nothing; | the emotional background remains | somber and unaltered despite a great | deal of intervening action. We are not | accustomed to that in our movies. We | have come to expect that death should | serve some end, that spiritual travail | should lift one from weakness to | strength. But such is not the case in “The Letter,” and one must depend for satisfaction ‘with the film on the con- | summate acting and the energetic tell- | | ing of the crippled story. Jeanne Eagels is the whole show, | supported, it is true, by exiremely good | subsidiaries and most intelligent direct- ing. It is a thrill to observe with what dramatic cunning Miss Eagels uses her eyes, her lips, the wrinkles in her brow. Far fetched as that may seem, she acts practically the whole | play ‘with her face, with the exception of that ruthless moment when she stands above her lover and pumps six bullets into his body. It is hard to tell where madness leaves off and in- stinctive artifice begins. Certainly | this is a portrait which one cannot grasp at a single sitting; the involved processes, the hypocrisy of this wom- an’s intelligence are not things to dis- sect easily; they elude quick apprecia- tion, but intrigue one the more for that. The technical side of “The Letter” deserves compliment. The dialogue is reproduced with pleasing naturalness; the extraneous sounds, such as the music in the Chinese dive, are graduated so as to carry conviction. One may take exception to the forced use of the cobra-mongoose incident, which has been shown before as a feature unit at Discounting the usual 50 | the Little Theater, but it remains fas- cinating. To fill out the usual performance time, since “The Letter” is a short pic- ure, the Columbia management Hhas contrived a potpourr! of talkie sketches, news reels and a comedy. PALACE—“The Trial of Mary Dugan.” For those who have cherished high | larly referred to as the “talkies,” there !is in the screen adaptation of Bayard | Veiller's melodramatic success, “The | Trial of Mary Dugan,” a distinct real- | ization of perfection that must be at least gratifying. | “'The reviewer, having previously seen the play in its return engagement, was little short of amazed to find that if either the screen or stage version is to suffer by comparison it is the latter. True ouginal Mary Dugan, had long since | left her role when we saw the play. but it is questionable whether even such an actress as Miss Harding is she could have been more appealing than Nerma Shearer, who has immortalized | the tribulations of the already famous | Mary Dugan with an emotional’ per- formance in the screen adaptation de- cidedly worthy of her talent. It is the firsi. time Miss Shearer has been heard, | but it cannot possibly be the last. The vehicle calls for a_consistently | excellent cast which the director (the author in this case) has supplied. The young brother is played by a youth recruited from the stage and henceforth the name of Raymond Hackett should appear frequently, for he is a good actor. The remaining principal roles are superbly handled by Hollywood vet- erans, with H. B. Warner at his best, Lewis Stone even better with speech and Lilyan Tashman in a wholly un- accustomed though pleasantly surpris- ing part. forth such spontaneous reaction from an audience, so tense and realistic is the scene, so superb and sincere the |acting and so much to the credit of | those who have had faith in the medium | of the “talkle.” | The bill at the Palace this week is nothing if not auspicious, for, besides |the splendid feature picture, a new and thoroughly engaging master of ceremonies is introduced, one Herbert Rawlinson, who bids fair to not only fill a ‘tough spot” as he calls it, but to fill it admi ‘The unusual length of the * makes it neces- sary to curtail the stage show, “Bright Lights,” and to allow Mr. Rawlinson to say but little more than how-do-you- do in a most congenial fashion. In the revue are the Syncopators in their usual place, accompanying the guest artists in their usual compentent way. Fifi D'Orsay, ap- parently French, sings with an ac- cent; Bankhoff and Cannon cleverly burlesque the classic dance; Carroll and Gorman do a Van and Schenk, while Cowan and Gray make some difficult acrobatic dancing appear effortless. The Gamby-Hale Girls and the Dave Gould Male Sextet step in pleasing unison. An M-G-M news reel and the orchestral {nopes for that heretofore unruly and | noisy offspring of the cinema, popu- | Perhaps never has any picture called | |in motion pictures in that it is the firs | filmed version of a musical play. Asidc | from the unusually high quality of th> | vocal and terspichorean effects it can claim pictorial distinction because of the inclusion of beautiful desert scenes done in color and a striking silhouette, | artistically effective. l | John Boles, in the leading role. is a | sensitive boy who joins the French, Army in order to win the respect and | admiration of Margot, his cousin. Be- |cause of his hatred of the brutality of military government he is put in’ the | wrong by those who have the power. ! To all outward appearances in disgrace. he pretends to be simple-minded, but | secretly becomes the leader of a band | of native horsemen. who with their | leader, the Red Shadow. are the terror ! of the white people. When his father becomes military governor and Margot comes to the post with an unquench- able thirst for romance and chivalry, excitement aplenty ensues. As Pierre has had to endure the scorn of the French for his ideals of justice to a! subject race, the loyalty of his men is| shaken because of his ideals of Western | chivalry, and later he is disowned by his | men and sent to the desert without food because of his refusal to fight a duel with Gen. Birabeau, his father, who| does not suspect. the Red Shadow’s real identity. ~ Needless to say everything, turns out all right in the end. John Boles, who formerly was on the legitimate stage, scores wpat is prob- ably his greatest triumph.” He plays a dual role, and there is excellent record- ing of his baritone voice. Carlotta | King, soprano, as Margot, does equally | well, ' while Myrna Loy as Azuri, a half- | caste dancing girl. well justifies a trip to the Metropolitan this week. Louise |Fazenda and Johnny Arthur make a | comedy team which would do credit to |any legitimate stage show. | Because of the length of the feature | the usual supplementary attractions are omitted. EARLE—“Why Be Good?” | Flaming youth as personified by Colleen Moore in “Why Be Good?" is | featured at the Farle Theater this | week. As a most modern of modern | flappers, Colleen Moore attempts to prove to the older generation that the | fast and free code of the modern youth | is only a pose which is assumed in or- i der to keep step with ine fast tempo of the age. “Why Be Good?” is the pfosaic story of the love of a millionaire’s son for a shop girl. The difficulty in this case, | | however, lies not in the difference in social status, but whether the rich youth is really serious in his intentions. | | Colleen ~Moore, in a role especially | | adapted to her spontaneity and vivacity, | | depicts the pert working girl, who makes a chance acquaintance at a night club | | with a_youth, played by Neil Hamiiton, | | who i out “doing the town.” Things | | were progressing nicely when she dis- | | covers that her boy friend is no less than the son of the owner of the store | where she is employed. From then on the story races along the uncertain road of love, through quite a climax, and finally reaches the inevitable happy ending. The subtitles are quite amusing. The producer, in an attempt to portray the pleasures of modern youth, seems to a shining example for the parents of today. This part is played by Edward Martindel. If one is in the mood for light, fast-moving, recreational enter- tainment he will find it in “Why Be Good?” ‘The Earle Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Breeskin, plays a symphonic ar- rafigement of Irving Berlin's “Marie.” A variation of the theme as a violin duet, played by Jack Minovich and Miiton Bchwartz, is especially pleasing. As an ded attraction, a one-act comedy. “Gossip,” is presented. It is clever and entertaining. The news reel completes the program. FOX—“One Stolen Night.” ‘To begin with, there's apparently no connection whatever between the name of the film feature at the Fox Theater this week—"“One Siolen Night"—and the subject matter therein; or, if any connection exists, it is so slight as to pass unnoticed. As for the subject matter itself, there is little of originality or action to dis- tinguish it. This is one of the early ‘Warner Bros’ ‘“part-talkies,” wherain divers experiments have been made with dialogue at certain intervals with un- certain results. | some keen dancing by the Foxettes, in- |cluding a novelty, “Daffydil Dance.’ 'done in total darkness with startling ,effect; a rare bit of balancing and jug- | | gling by Evans and Perez, and a dog act | featuring Spotly, a truly remarkable fox | terrier acrobat, and his master, Paul Sydell. Then, there are two dance num- | bers, one provided by Ray Mayon and | the other Le Van and Bernie, a pair of rapid-fire tap artists. Sid Blake, fem- inine blues singer, provides the vocal part of the show and John Irving Fisher gives another demonstration of his skill | at the piano. | Movietone News and a fashion sho | of Spring headgear round out the pro- gram. RIALTO—“Show Boal.” “Old Man River” is still running along to a fourth week of “Show Boat,” with the box office receipts amply justi- fying Universal's lavish production of the “best seller” and musical comedy success. Those who know the story and like | it for 1ts rather obvious sentiment will |no doubt find tears and heart-throbs aplenty in the picture version, for right | from the start the tears flow freely |and continue throughout the unusual | Mississippi as the motif is magnificently done. LITTLE THEATER—“Shiraz.” It is no hardship to visit “Shiraz" for a second time. This picture of the building of the Taj Mahal has been brought back to the Little Theater. Moving through its telling with a | slow dignity, the story of the “Shiraz” | gives a document of idealism and love that credits the film medium. Faith- ful in its detail (the film was made in Jaipur with all native actors and orig- | inal scenes of the story), “Shiraz" gives | a wealth of pictorial delight which pro- vides the setting for action as convinc- | ing as any one can remember. Sensi- i tive treatment of incidents prominent in the plot complement the handling of mass scenes, to make up a welded whole. The spirit oi the work is placid, | but marked, too, by dramatic feeling and | at least two of the three climaxes of tension, all well shaded. | The leading players are persons of intelligence. if not of high dramatic skill. They do their work with sin- cerity, nicely restrained and imbued | with’ a feeling of the quality of the story. Supplementary features round out the | Little Theater's bill. WILL STAGE OPERETTA. Betty Bronson, in the role of the|chronicle of a “show boat” actress of Fastern C. E. Players to Present young daughter of a famous French dancer, who is endeavoring to make a living by dancing with a wandering troupe in Northern Africa, is lovely, of course, and William Collier. jr., makes a fitting lover for the fair maiden, playing the part of a son of an English army officer who has deserted his regiment to cover up the indiscretions of his brother | sents the featured players of the Zieg- | who had been accused of taking com- missary funds. There is a rather weak argument in favor of our hero's sacri- |a rather heavy part for one just| ficial act which serve, of course, to|graduated from pert comedy, but there | make him dearer in the eyes of the |is a certain charm in her work. The | fair young dancer. Both have found employment with the same troupe, “Blossom’s Caravan,” and, after a few harrowing experiences, the current of their true love carries them back to civilization, where we gather that a clean bill miraculously waits the | voung soldier whose brother has con- fessed, removing all blame from him. Several good acts feature the stage ilhe eighteen hundreds. While the cast is good, picked rather for type than for | special ability, the real triumph of the | picture is the use of the Mississippi as | a setting, and the genuine flavor of | another day in the atmosphere. | The prologue gives a few of the hits of the musical comedy version and pre- field success. | Laura La Plante as Magnolia is given handsome Joseph Schildkraut, perfectly cast as to type, does some overacting | and Emily Fitzroy gives a good char- | acterization of her somewhat unsym- | | pathetic role. While it is evident that | Alma Rubens’ one talking moment is “faked,” her work is excellent. She is a thoroughly capable actress. But “Show Boat" is truly “Old Man River | pictw and the tistic use of t | “Betty Lou, Dream Girl.” | The Eastern C. E. Players, under the | direction of Miss Marion Paull, will | present “Betty Lou, the Dream Girl." a three-act operetfa, at the Eastern Presbyterian Church, Sixth street and Maryland avenue. on Tuesday and | Wednesday at 8 pm. | Assisted by Miss Ethel Batts, the players will their annual play, a comic operelta, the cast of which in- cludes Dorothy Reddish. Marion Paull Gladys Wilcox, Mary Burns, Tommy | Coiner, Charles Converse and Stanlev | Robertson. Dorothy Reddish partici- pated in dramatics while attending McKinley Manual Training School. and | Tommy Coiner is now engaged in East- ern High School's activities. *| A motor toll road between London and Brighten, England. is proposed. 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