... . By L. P. HARTLEY. MEMORY HOLD-THE- DOOR is the auto biography of a singu larly successful man. The fact that the author started life as John Buchan, one of the several children of a poor Scottish minister, and ended it as Lord Tvveedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, proves this, but it does not tell, or even suggest, the whole story. Success and fulfilment often go hand in hand, but not ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. SEEING that Mr. Max Relton's travels took place in French Indo-China, I almost automatically scanned the contents (a pity there is no index) for the magic word Angkor. I did not find it; but two-thirds of the way through the book I discovered that Mr. Relton had antici pated my enquiry. So far, therefore [he savsl as any reader is prepared to wade through this book solely ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. IT'S A DATE, the new Deanna Durbin film at the Leicester Square, has the sort of nos talgic charm that marks the end of any happy thing-- school days, a summer holi day, a shipboard friendship. In this case it marks the end 01 a cnuanoou. i.iu it Miss Durbin, who showed us she was ready for romance and the chaste kiss in First Love, has now definitely debuted. It 's a ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. IF you want to see the best new acting perform ance in town, you must put up with a very grim prison film, and go to see James Cagney in EACH DAWN I DIE, at the Warner Theatre. The story is just another ex posure of racketeer ing, and the brutal methods of discipline practised in the past tense in certain American prisons. An honest reporter, who gets too near to the ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. A NOVEL by an Indian author about India is something to look for ward to, especially when it comes with the recommendation of Mr. E. M. Forster. I cannot quite agree with him, however, when he says that Twilight in Delhi is beautifully written. Mr. Ahmed Ali has a talent for our language which sometimes amounts almost to genius, but he has not quite mnsfpreH it vet and ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. MODERN poetry does not as a rule wear its meaning on its sleeve any more than it wears its heart; in some cases both take a lot of finding. One reason why we welcome this new book of poems by Mr. Herbert Asquith, Youth in the Skies, is that here heart and mean ing are discernible at a glance. Meaning is not like a jewel, valuable in proportion to the difficulty of finding ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. THE ASSES' BRIDGE referred to in the title of Miss Barbara Gool- den's latest novel is the span of years between the last war and this. In Euclid the pons asinorum is a problem renowned for its difficulty. The human race has found Miss Goolden's version of it all too easy to solve. Sir Thomas Browne says somewhere that it is no breach of charitv to call the multitude ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. THE Oxford Book of Christian Verse appears at a moment that some might think timely, others not, according as to whether they are able to reconcile their conception of Christianity with the present condition of the world. In any case, however, lovers of poetry cannot but be grateful to Lord David Cecil for put ting this treasure within their reach, and for sending it out ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. GASLIGHT (Odeon) is one of those small, concise, atmo spheric dramas that come so well to the screen. It is a film of one house, one situation and one mood, and there are no distractions. It is a gruesome film, and you can't escape from it. From beginning to end you are shut in with murder and creeping madness in a grey, bleak, Pimlico square of the 'eighties, with its ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. EIGHTEEN-ODD years spent in film criticism have taught me to be cautious with superlatives, but I'm prepared to take a chance with Disney's new film, PINOCCHIO, and say it is the best that has ever been made. Bv that I mean that it is the film that comes closest to a complete realisation of the word cinema. Every form of art whether it is music, painting, sculpture, ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. DR. CYCLOPS (Carlton) is a film for the young in heart-- that vast audience of otherwise responsible men and women who have never quite out grown their delight in the conjurer and his disappearing rabbit. It is a film for the people who liked Topper and King Kong and The Invisible Man the people who used to gaze spellbound at the screen in those early days when ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. BERT HOLM was a member of a climbing expedition in the Himalayas. The party was tackling a hitherto unascended mountain, and Bert reached the summit alone. In doing so he disobeyed orders, and the leader of the expedition was not at all pleased with him. But the great American public took him to its heart, and he returned to find him self not only famous, but a god. But ...