A WAR COMEDY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 18

A WAR COMEDY.

"LOST AT THE FRONT." TWO WAYWARD PRIVATES. With Charlie Murray and George Sidney in the leading roles, "Lost at the Front" is a most amußing comedy. This First National attraction will be screened for the first time at thd Liberty Theatre on Monday next, when this sad tale of two disobedient privates will set the house in a roar. It is claimed for this picture that it is as different from' the usual run of war comedies as Big Bertha is from a pop gun—and the difference is considerable. To be a disobedient, privato is no mean feat in itself. -It requires some nerve, ingenuity, and a glib tongue; also a fleet pair of legs. The last, however, are more or less negligible, as sergeants are generally quite fat and can't run far. But the two brave fellows of this film, so faultlessly acted by Murray and Sidney, are the most novel thing in warriors brave that ever issued from the States, the homo of many strange things. The story of their enlistment and subsequent arrival on the Russian front is fraught with moments of glorious comedy and rare burlesque, but once they get there the fuu starts in earnest, and the laughter ensuing at their most astounding antics will be sufficient to drown the noise from a dozen river-sweepers. In the Russian Army there is a Women's Battalion of Death, not a very pleasant regiment, certainly not the place for an inoffensive Irish policeman from New York and a German barber from the same metropolis—but Charlie Murray being the one, and George Sidney being the other —well, they are equal to anything, and the Battalion of Death gets them. Follows, therefore, much fevered straining to escape from the Tsarist grip, sequences of comedy acting that is the equal of anything seen on the screen. Lost at the front; far from the dear old dug-out, far from the friendly trench, away from the sergeant's dulcet tones, the Major's beaming eye—lost at the front, pathos that is the most hilarious mirth; self-pity that is the brightest wit, discbnsolation that this irresistible pair turn into the gayest burlesque. The picture makes no pretence to seriousness; it is pure comedy, slapstick and burlesquo so combined that it ranks as the most successful war comedy yet produced. And it is so remarkably true to type. Such littlo things as humour, and that fine line between comedy and tragedy, which are both so skilfully exemplified, make "Lost at the Front" a human drama wtih laughter and universal conflict ns the backgrounds and supers. Natalie Kingston and Ed Brady supply the romantic interest. Box plans are at The Bristol Piano Company, where seats may be reserved.