... THE CINEMA t La Dietrich's Latest By JAMES AGATE During his last ill ness Old Man Czepanek in sisted on his daughter Lily reading aloud the Song of Songs. Hence the title of the Carlton's new film. As he was dying he would probably not feel up to explain ing the mystical nature of that canticle which with any other interpretation is hardly suitable reading for a young girl. To the pure, ...

... THE CINEMA Film Programme By JAMES AGATE I HAVE often thought that those people who do not read their theatre programmes-- and I confess I hardly ever do so myself-- miss a considerable treat. As often as not it may be the best part of the evening, for I conceive it possible that the programme may be better fun than the play. I must say, none the less, that I was a little astonished to find ...

... TU By Horace Horsnell Sky High (Phoenix) Those two queens ot Burlesque, iviesaames Hermione Baddeley and Hermione Ging- old, have become popularly associated as a kind of dual constellation in the vaudeville heavens, where they shine with mutual and derisive glory. When last we saw them fooling there together, the slogan was Rise Above It Now it is Sky High, which seemed to promise even higher ...

... Golden Eagle (Westminster) THE new play is pleasing alike to eye and ear. Costumes designed by Mr. Gower Parks divide the stage into delightful patterns of black and gold, swarthy green, pearl white, and ruby-hearted crimson. To the movement of these colours Mr. Robert Atkins's production imparts a slow grace. The dialogue of Mr. Clifford Bax has leisurely elegance and the incidental music of ...

... TU By Horace Horsnell Living Room (Garrick) ONCE upon a time there were two kindly old maids named Vicky and Deborah who lived with Molly, their niece, in a fool's paradise somewhere up north. They were neither rich nor poor, but just com fortable. Their father had left, them a little house property for what they had fondly assumed was life. And since Molly, their only relative, was an orphan, ...

... THE CINEMA Monsieur Korda Voit Clair By JAMES AGATE THE new film called The Ghost Goes West, at the Leicester Square Theatre, having been deliriously acclaimed, is obviously a very great success. There is never a moment in it in which Mr. Korda and Mr. Rene Clair do not between them hit the target of satisfaction. From first to last every shot hits the bull's-eye plonk. But to me the film is a ...

... By Horace Horsnell Strike a New Note (Prince of Wales) IN this type of popular revue, a new note is certainly to be welcomed; and if Mr. George Black's latest rouser does not con sistently strike it, the players do. They are young, eager, and professional. The programme informs us that they are boys and girls who have been gathered from every part of the country, needing but the opportunity to ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Merry Widow (His Majesty' s) The Merry Widow, Daly's Theatre, Leicester Square in June, 1907: what different days, what brighter nights this revival recalls! Though lively, the pace was somehow less swift thirty-six years ago, when Léhar's melodies first entranced, and Lily Elsie's flower-like charm created, as the stage historian reminds us, a perfect furore. ...

... THE CINEMA The Parnell Film By JAMES AGATE IN view of what follows there can be no harm in admitting that I went to the Empire to see the film of Parnell in what can only be called a scoffing frame of mind. Reverence is too strong a word to connote my regard for my colleagues in this business of film criticism, but there are many of them whom I respect, and when these, prac tically ...

... THE CINEMA A Supper of Horrors By JAMES AGATE DANDIN, the judge in Racine's comedy of Les Plaideurs suggests to Isabelle that she might like a little distrac tion. What would she like? The spectacle of a little torturing? Eh, monsieur, says Isabelle, peut-on voir souffrir des malheureux? And Dandin replies:-- Cela fait tou jours passer une heure ou deux! The late A. B. Walkley said with ...

... Murder on the Nile (Ambassadors) CROSSWORD puzzles are rarely notable for a suggestion of warm humanity or for their humorousness. They succeed none the less in corrugating the brows and passing the time of a great public; and the new Agatha Christie play, though the characters are only walking clues changing colour as effortlessly as a chameleon and there is little incidental fun, is ...

... By Horace Horsnell White The Sun Shines (Globe) MR. TERENCE RATTIGAN (author of French Without Tears and Flare Path) is expert at antic haymaking. For him the sun seems always to shine; and his latest crop is a welcome addition to a theatre bill dominated by obstinate successes. It is a wartime frolic; light in substance, topical in key, and agreeably funny. The tale it tells, though a caution ...