Star Forgets Her Airs and Graces

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 33, 22 February 1935, Page 24

Star Forgets Her Airs and Graces

Loretta Young Gives the Most Natural Performance of Her Career’ In "The White Parade," a Delightful Film-Eddie Cantor Broadcasts | From London — Garbo Becomes Human. |

"HE ~-WHITE PARADE" reminded me of the days when I was very young and a solicitous parent, in the darkness of a: picture palace, would assure a rather tearful bundle of small boy beside her that "There’s no need to cry-it isn’t real." And this latest film from Fox-a cleverly-constructed story of the lives of probationer nurses-has its moments when I had to keep telling myself not to be a sentimental idiot. Loretta Young is the star, and, almost for the first time, one is given a. perfectly natural study of this young acttess. In other films she has given way

to the impulse to "play to the gallery," but in "The White Parade" she acts in a thoroughly happy and unconscious manner-the 20-year-old in every spontaneous movement. HE WHITE PARADE" is notable for-another reason. It brings. to light a middle- aged actress who should go far-in the talkies. Jane Darvwell is her name, and, as the nursing sister who is all severity on duty and very human off, she makes a lasting impression. The hospital forms the main background for the film, and I seriously doubt that the most exacting

nurse could find fault with the routine shown on the screen, John Boles plays the main lead-a Boston polo player who finds himself thrust, willy-nilly, into a not unpleasant love affair with a youthful nurse., Go and see "The White Parade" when it comes along-_ it’s one of those twnpretentious and pleasant pictures that leaves.a happy and lingering u:eimory. [f there’s. one comedian whom it’s worth waiting a year to see it’s liddie Cantor-and what’s more, he sees to it that you are kept waiting ome

a year, for his film appearances are limited to once per annum. The 1935 effort is called "Kid Millions," and it is due for release in Auckland at _ Waster, It it’s half as good as "Roman Scandals" we shall be lined up good and early in the queue on the opening night. When he finished making this fiim Cantor took his wife and five daughters off to Hurope for a "vay-kay-shun," as the Americans so naively put it, and on his way home he stayed in London and gave British listeners a-thrill by speaking from the B.B.C. [N America Eddie Cantor is paid £2000 for a radio appearance. For his London appearance he was paid £100 (which he gave to charity), and. at the end of: his talk he offered his thanks for the "20 minutes the B.B.C. ‘has kindly allowed me." In a. sketch in which he was helped by Mr. John Watts, he put in a plea for more careful driving. ‘ "But some of the pedestrians walk as if they owned the roads," protested Mr. Watts. . . "Well, some of you drive as if you owned -your cars," retorted Eddie Cantor. During his broadcast the comedian sang songs from "Whoopee" and "Roman Scandals." No sooner ,was_ the performance over than Broadcasting

House was deluged with telephone calls irom appreciative listeners. it is estimated that the listening public was th greatest for some months. FYM publicity managers have been responsible for all sorts of fantastic stunts in the cause of the talking picture, but a Whangarei showman, a year or two ago, nearly ran foul of the :aw when he tried to "put over’ the Ruth © Chatterton success, "Madame X." Robin Hyde, the Auckland journaiist, tells about it in her book ‘"Journalese’"’: A Whangarei showman, a few years ago, just missed the full weight of that city’s judicial wrath for the natty way in which he "tied up" a ‘few buckets of whitewash, the King’s highway, and Ruth _ Chatterton’s film "Madame X." Darkly by: dead of night, he and his comrades erept forth, painted large and sinisterlooking white crosses all down the town’s prim new-tarred highways, leading to his theatre. He was let down lightly... . Still, I can’t help thinking that had he but used broad arrows instead of crosses he would have added point to the jest. THD film critic of the London "Observer" has been trying his hand at picking the best films of 1934, From the American list he has chosen the following: "The Thin Man." "It Happened One Night," "Queen Christina," "Roman Scandals," "One Night of Love," "Of Human Bondage," "The Ffouse of . Rothschild," .» "Lreasure Island." . "Twentieth Century," "The Gay Divorecee,"’ "Little Women," "Design for Living." "Crime Without Passion." "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" and "Emperor Jones.". From ythe British films he chooses: "The ' Searlet Pimpernel,’ "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Man of Aran," "Bvensong," "Blossom Time," "Jew _Suss," "Little Friend," "Evergreen," "Nell Gwyn," "Catherine the Great," "The Song of the Plough," and the Priestley-Gracie Fields picture, "Sing as We Go." (GRETA GARBO has stopped being aloof and mysterious for a while In "The Painted Veil," the screen version of Somerset Maugham’s story, she behaves like a normal being-and the public is liking it. At least the Lon(ton public is liking the film, while the

Iunglish provinces are divided in their opinions-some prefer her in the cold and calm Queen Christina type of role. At the Empire Theatre, London, the film has broken all records since 1932 -records established by such films as "Grand Hotel," "Dinner at Kight." "Smilin’. Through" and "Min and Bill."