Critical Moments

There are many problems connected with the business of reporting what transpires on screens and behind footlights that puzzle me and about them I know no help is to be expected from readers. However, there is one phase of dramatic reporting about which these same readers could be of valuable assistance. Specifically, should a critic give his readers a complete synopsis of the play or picture he is criticizing?

Personally I feel that setting down the complete story of a theatrical production tends to spoil the fun of those who decide to go to see it. If a play or film has an unusual plot, or a surprise ending, by telling your readers what this plot or ending is, you certainly eliminate the element of surprise. I know that if I were to be given an exhaustive synopsis of a book, my interest in reading that book would be appreciably less and I don’t see why this same test cannot be applied to things theatrical.

I believe a reporter has done his duty when he has given the reader some idea of the plot and thesis of the production. He should confine his comments to the plausibility of the author’s idea and the manner in which the work is produced and acted. What do you think? I am very eager to hear your opinion.

UNEXCITING THEATRICAL WEEK

The week was unexciting theatrically. “Post Road,” the semicomic melodrama about baby snatching, was the only piece worth mentioning twice. Although its reception by the critics was not unanimously favorable, most of the gentleman marked it down as better than fair entertainment. I concur.

“Tomorrow’s Harvest” which Hans Rastede and Hyman Adler wrote, is a dismal and unconvincing drama about a dominating father who has his family so bulldozed that even after his death his influence is still felt. It is much too wordy.

Irving Kaye Davis, a young playwright who manages to become very very serious and profound about very obvious things, was also among those who had new plays to offer. His latest, “So Many Paths,” opened Thursday evening at the Ritz Theatre, where, fairly enough, his “All Rights Reserved” recently died.

For this coming week things look brighter. Monday evening the Theatre Guild, which has been quiet this Fall, will present Maxwell Anderson’s “Valley Forge.” On the same evening the Theatre Union will offer “Sailors of Cattaro.” Wednesday, at the Broadway, Russell Janney’s musical romance, “The O’Flynn,” will be the evening’s attraction, and on Thursday Lew Brown’s “Calling All Stars” will have its premier at the Hollywood. This elaborately produced musical starring Lou Holtz and Phil Baker, among others, had its try-out in Boston, where it was welcomed warmly. This week will also see the end of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company four-week repertory, which stretched out into fifteen weeks.

FROM THE CINEMA

This should be a gala week-end for the film fans. Greta Garbo is at the Capitol in a picturization of the novel, “Painted Veil.” George Jessel heads the stage show. At the Paramount the very much discussed “The President Vanishes” finally after many delays came in. “Broadway Bill” holds over for another week at the Music Hall. “The Battle” continues for a third week at the Criterion and at the Rivoli, Douglas Fairbanks returns to the screen in “Don Juan.”

FOR THE HOLIDAYS

It is customary to make up a list of plays for holiday consumption. Here is mine: “The Children’s Hour,” easily the most mature and gripping drama of the season. “Anything Goes,” a gay, risque musical comedy with Victor Moore, one of the stage’s funnier funny men, and Ethel Merman, who can do more with Cole Porter’s lyrics than a chorus of 100; “Say When,” a musical with Bob Hope and plenty of good tunes; “Dark Victory,” an unhappy but beautifully acted play with Tallulah Bankhead; “Gold Eagle Guy,” a robust, exciting melodrama of a self-made man; “Revenge With Music,” Libby Holman in a charming Spanish musical romance; and for a light comedy the inconsequential amusing “Personal Appearance,” a sidelight on the home life of a movie star.

Isaac Vallentine founded in London the first Anglo-Jewish periodical.