... By V. S. Pritchett THE trouble about most thrillers is that, like boys' books, they are always crudely patriotic and ortho dox when they deal with international politics. Other people's politics are always being confounded and their knavish tricks frustrated with a self-righteousness which is very boring for anyone above Boy Scout age. It is also very old-fashioned. For patriotism has branched ...

... The Bystander Bookshelf Yanks, Finns and Ladies By V. S. Pritchett ONE of the chief charms of the American character is its fraternal benevolence. If a man tricks you he tricks you as a brother; and it is as a brother that you double-cross him in return. It is significant that the country which gave us the sly duels of Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit should also have given us that essay in ...

... The Theatre By Herbert Farjeon Women Aren't Angels (Strand) THE appeal of this risible and, in spots, roarable farce depends largely on the humours of undressing and dressing-up. We all know by now that Mr. Robertson Hare is not Mr. Robertson Hare if, some time during the evening, he is not deprived of his nether garments. This is his signature situation. But not only Mr. Hare is compelled, ...

... The Theatre By Herbert Farjeon The Tempest (Old Vic) THE TEMPEST has always seemed to me the most mysterious, unfathomable and baffling flight of beauty that ever called for an audience of poets. It has the elusive quality of light-- the faint-strong smell of the seashore-- and the sound, an arcade of sound, is that of a shell against the ear, when all the storms and zephyrs that have ever ...

... The Theatre By Herbert Farjeon Three Iievues REVUE after revue after revue. Of which this week three. First, Moonshine, Archie de Bear's in offensive pocket (let us hope not out-of- pocket) offering at the Vaudeville. Don't Sing a Song About the War, a good num ber, invites us to forget there's a war on. But so mild is the entertainment that sometimes we almost forget there's a show on. ...

... The Theatre By Herbert Farjeon Garrison Theatre (London Palladium) IT would be well not to go to this show if you have a headache-- unless you want to boast that it didn't give you one. Seldom can there have been such a continuous racket inside a theatre-- blaring brass that splits the ears-- super-blasting microphones cal culated to take the deaf by storm comedians roaring wisecracks above ...

... By V. S. Pritcliett Morocco is the warrior, Algeria the Man, Tunisia the Woman, goes the Arab saying. The small w for warrior is curious. I should like to know the explanation. Has the w dwindled as the French pacified the territory? For it is nearly all pacified now. A new area, called the Sud Marocain, has been brought to order in the past five years, and Mr. Sacheverell Sitwell's ...

... By Herbert Farjeon Itevudeville Windmill) PLANES may come and 'planes may go, but the Windmill, brookfully, goes on for ever. Hail to thee, Windmill! Oft have we tilted at thee in the past, even as Don Quixote him self, but to do so now would indeed be unchivalrous. Honour to thy sails, which cease not from revolving, and honour eke to thy most rescuable nudes, who wink not a lash even when ...

... Films of the Day 44 We Burn You, Heine! We Burn You, Einstein! Bv George Campbell WHAT else could I do? screams the Nazi in The Mortal Storm, who has just shot his half- Jewish sweetheart for trying to escape across the frontier. And her half-brothers have no answer, for there is none. Given the Nazi doctrine that the State thinks for you, takes charge of your conscience, owns you body and ...

... The 4 4 Bystander Bookshelf The Haunted Rectory By V. S. Pritchett TWO or three years ago, the Press, the B.B.C., and groups of observers, who ranged from members of the Society for Psychical Research to under graduates, and from undergraduates to the scrupulous Dr. C. E. M. Joad, investi gated the haunting of the Rectory of Borley, near Long Melford. A compre hensive account of all the ...

... Films of the Day Suspense Without Sense, by Hitchcock By George Campbell KEEP your lights going-- they're the only lights left in the world, cries the hero of Foreign Correspondent, broadcasting to America from London, as the lights go out and the studio rocks to the roar of bombs. Just what he meant I don't know. Some critics interpreted his exhortation as an appeal to America to join in; ...

... Films of the Day Mines-- Coal and Diamonds By George Campbell ONE'S first reaction to The Proud Valley is that it comes a little too late or too early. If we hadn't seen The Citadel and The Stars Look Down, it would have been pretty terrific. But one Welsh mining valley, one pit scene, looks very much like another; and once again we watch, with respect and awe, risks taken and disaster faced ...