... By Horace Horsnell Big Top (His Majesty's) THE title of this revue is not to be taken literally. The big top is not a tent, but a triumvirate-- Mr. C. B. Cochran, Mr. Herbert Farjeon, and Miss Beatrice Lillie. Mr. Cochran is, of course, the king of show men, and recherche entertainment is his metier. Mr. Farjeon, as you know, is the ace of wits, whose impertinent inventions are as full of ...

... By Horace Horsnell Claudia (St. Martin's) THIS American comedy comes to us from New York with an immense reclame. It is a bright example of the modern school that pays lip tribute to Freud, and seasons sentiment with psychology. The author, Rose Franken, has a shrewd sense of character which she doesn't abuse, a facile pen which is not allowed to rust in reflection, and an impulsive wit ...

... By Horace Horsnell IT hy Not Tonight (Ambassadors) GOOD farce, like good wine, needs no bush. It is to indifferent comedy rather what vintage burgundy is to dubious bordeaux-- especially if, expecting the one, you are fobbed off with the other. One of the virtues of farce is that the characters do not expect to be taken too seriously. They are licensed clowns, and are out, not to edify, but to ...

... TU By Herbert Farjeon Warn That Man Garrick FOR what particular patriotic purpose, one asks on leaving the Garrick Theatre, did Mr. Winston Churchill, unseen hero of Warn That Man!, once every month charter a special aeroplane to take him to Buckley Hall in the depth of the country, there secretly and unbeknown to any but the highest officials to encounter a certain person or certain persons ...

... TU By Horace Horsnell Skylark (Duchess) ALL for love, and the world well lost is a grand theme for a dramatist, and Shakespeare and Dryden both did marvels with it. Mr. Samson Raphaelson, the author of this modest American version, would probably be the last to claim kinship with his illustrious predecessors. His heroine is no Cleopatra, but the cosiest of little New York wives, and his hero ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. MR. SOMERSET MAUGHAM the novelist has never shirked facing painful or disagreeable facts in human nature, even when they occur in characters whom on the whole he likes; and this trait stands him in good stead when, as now, he is writing a chapter of the history of the war. It is a sad chapter, and the chief actors are people to whom Mr. Maugham is deeply attached the French ...

... PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS-PAST and PRESENT ■By Vernon Fane Charles Graves Censored and Uncensored Ursula Bloom Looks Back From Victoria to the Blitz D. W. Rainer's American Adventures A[evil Shute's 1 Narrative Assurance Endeavour Sets Sail IT will be interesting to see whether OFF THE RECORD (Hutchinson. IOS. 6d.) will stimulate other writers, both amateurs and professionals, into keeping a ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. THE CHILDREN is a sequel to Nina Fedor ova's deservedly popular story The Family. Hemmed in by the Japanese, Lida and her mother are still living in Tientsin, on very short com mons. In the intervals of thinking about Jimmy in America, Lida is studying to become a singer she gives one or two concerts, and there is no doubt of her talent. A handsome and eligible Spaniard ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. IN amongst the feature films, the newsreels and the Ministry of Information shorts, a number of sizable documentaries are turning up these days to lend variety to our programmes. Probably the most important, the most skilled and the best photographed come from the Government's own Crown Film Unit, which has, naturally enough, priority in subjects. Crown does not employ the ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE LET'S FACE IT.-- To produce in London a burlesque of American soldiers at a time when the town is full of them, and to have that burlesque played for the most part by English players, might seem a bold and even tactless move. However, any criticism on that score is cancelled out by the fact that Let's Face It, the new Hippodrome show, is composed and written by ...

... T he Little S hips HOWEVER you look at Life Line (Heinemann, 8s. 6d.) it is first class reading. Charles Graves has the knack of focusing a story or a section of a story as it were with a spy-glass and leading it up until it gives the impression of being magnified and standing out. In this book Charles Graves has been given by the Admiralty I the chance of studying the small ships of the Navy, ...

... Books: Reviewed by Noel Thompson WHEN the war comes to an end there will be a spate of books about occupied Europe. In the meantime it will be hard to find a better book than Under the Iron Heel (Robert Hale, 12s. 6d.). This deals almost entirely with Belgium both before and after occupation and the most important point is that Lars Moen, the author, does manage to keep such a very fair ...