Brilliant Play

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 475, 30 July 1948, Page 12

Brilliant Play

THOUGHT Odd Man Out (2YA, July 16) made a brilliant radio play. Inevitable comparisons with the film version were not entirely toé the play’s disadvantage, for I thought the central idea of the play, the "charity" theme. emerged much more clearly in the radio version. There was so much to ‘attract the eye in the film, the excitement of the action-shots, the camera’s irony (shown, for example, in the junk-yard juxtaposition of Johnny McQueen and the tottering plaster angel). Without these distractions the radio audience was able to concentrate on the Word. In the ‘first part of the play the word was Organisation. Johnny must _ ignore Kathleen and the love she represented in the interests of the Organisation, In the interests of the Organisation Denis must sacrifice himself to save Johnny (not because of his love for Johnny), The Organisation demands court-martial for the two members, who, successful in their mission, yet failed to bring back their leader, though Charity would have made allowance for the panic of the moment. In the second half of the play

the dominant word, implied and finally spoken, is Charity. There is little or none in those who give the fugitive temporary asylum, enough hospitality to ensure that he does not die on their doorstep. The play’s great moment comes when, in his dying delirium, the wounded man _ speaks the passage "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels .. ." with its implication that Faith (the motive power behind the Organisation) was not enough. The essential unity of the story, the fine balance between faith and charity, were clearly and beautifully conveyed in the radio version.