DE LUXE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 16

DE LUXE THEATRE

*“The Scrapper” And “Men Of

Yesterday”

The Monogram picture, "The Scrapper,” at the De Luxe Theatre, allowa Mickey Bouncy yet another opportunity to score a personal success. Though it is not his 'best work, he gives an interesting and discerning portrait of a boy who gains a bad reputation for his pugnacious manner 'because he is always on his guard to defend his drunken father from the sneers of righteous citizens. The boy has a right to be bitter, because his father is a gallant war veteran whose shell-shocked nerves have brought about his degradation. Nobody appreciates this except the kindly young schoolmistress (Anne Nagel) ; and the scenes in which she visits the boy and his father at their home are, though brief, extremely moving. _ The film could have made much more of itself ■than it does, because there is a strike which might have been developed as a really vital issue instead of just as something in. the plot. However, the father-and-son theme provides a strong blend of humour and pathos. It is Mickey Rooney s picture, but he shares some of the acting honours with Kdw-ard I’awley, as* the gaunt and pathetic ex-soldier. Ex-soldiers figure also in "Men of Yesterday,” the second feature. This is a rather notable little picture. The “men of yesterday” are British ex-servicemen. They have seen war, and they do not want to fight again; even more, they do not want their children to fight. A little group of them, led by their former commander, Major Radford, union ex-servicemen from France, Germany, and other nations, with whom, or against whom, they fought in 1914-18. Their ideal is that comradeship between the ordinary men of the nations alone can save the world from another catastrophe. The treatment of the film is simple and sincere, and the characters are filled in with many neat touches by such accomplished actors as Will Fyffe, Stewart Rome, Hay Petrie, and George Robey.