Critical Moments

The Cameo Theatre which is within hearing distance of the rumbling Sixth avenue “El” on Forty-second street, will, for the coming season, show the best that can be obtained in foreign made cinemas. Matty Radin, who owns and operates the Acme Theatre on Fourteenth street, has taken over the management of the Cameo and is responsible for the aforementioned statement. He further promises that pictures imported from abroad will first be shown at the Cameo and after a run in that theatre will then be shown at the Acme. However, real “revolutionary” or propaganda films will be shown exclusively at the Acme and will not be brought uptown.

To introduce his new policy, Mr. Radin offers “Petersburg Nights” at the Cameo and if this excellent Russian film produced by the Soyusfilm in its Moscow studios is at all indicative of what is to follow, cinema fans are in for a season of superior pictures.

“Petersburgh Nights” is based on Dostoyevski’s two stories, “White Nights” and “Netotchka Nezvanova” and although these are definitely among the minor works of the great Russian novelist they make fine picture material. The leading figure in “Petersburg Nights” is a young musician proud, arrogant but of peasant stock. A composer of genius and a violinist of great skill, his lack of success embitters him. He has no interest in the class struggle and shuns everything but his music. The scene is pre-revolutionary Russia in the time of the Czar and the musician can make no headway because he refuses to fawn over the wealthy who make it possible for artists to earn material comforts. Shunned by his associates, held in awe by his class he bitterly watches second rate performers earn applause and wealth. Finally, he is convinced that this life offers nothing to him, until one cold winter night he walks aimlessly through the streets of Petersburg, perhaps even contemplating suicide. By chance he comes across a poorly dressed group of workers who are being driven to Siberia by Czarist officials. As they go onward through the storm they sing a song that sounds familiar to the musician. He then remembers that it is something he had written many years before. And it is at this point in his life that he realizes that he is not a failure. If his songs can give courage to the workers then he has accomplished more than all the second rate musicians in Russia.

B. Dobran Ravov as the musician gives a surpassingly fine performance. Acting such as his is all too rare. He plays his role with a restraint, understanding and intelligence that adds power to this meaningful picture. A. Gorunov as the musican’s rival is also to be commended for his fine work. The minor parts are more than just competently acted and the music written by D. Kovalesky is both exciting and stirring. Naturally the actors in this talkie use the Russian tongue, but there are English titles and you will have no trouble understanding the action of the film.

OPENED LAST NIGHT; OTHER NEWS, COMMENTS

A new melodrama by Elmer Rice, “Judgment Day,” opened last night at the Belasco . . . For its second half of the week the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company presented “Trial by Jury” and “Pinafore” at the Martin Beck. The troupe has proven so successful that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain tickets. It is hinted that the original five-week stay planned by the company will be extended . . . Mordaunt Hall, movie critic for the New York Times, is no longer the movie critic of the New York Times. His successor has not as yet been named … If you saw the stage version of “She Loves Me Not” I would not advise a visit to the Paramount where the motion picture of that name is playing. Bing Crosby may be a very fine crooner, but most of the life and juice of the play has been completely removed. In the play one of the most amusing episodes concerns the Communist’s interest in the trouble at Princeton, the scene of the action. In the picture this angle has been completely eliminated. It does seem that film companies will deal only with one topic, “love”; everything else is taboo. Which reminds me—don’t under any circumstances miss “Crime Without Passion” the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur picture. It moves out of the Rialto today but it will be available in your neighborhood house very soon. Here is a picture that makes the million dollar splashes from Hollywood look very feeble indeed, Margo, who plays the female lead opposite Claude Rains, the English actor is a newcomer to the screen. She alone is worth seeing. Eighteen years old, a short time ago she was dancing on the roof of the Waldorf Astoria when Universal and Paramount executives saw her. They gave her a screen test and finally turned her down, but one day MacArthur, looking for material, saw a few shots from her test and signed her for a year’s contract.