... m JBBH. mHraBNff^sw mliBS .v/^ t> V Books: Re-viewed by T revor Alle?t IN the past century the Portuguese Braganzas of Brazil were all we expect a Latin dynasty to be, both in political intrigue and court scandal. Dom João's queen, the giddy Carlota, is credited with having plotted the murder of her lover's wife and-- possibly-- that of her husband; when, finally, she left Brazil she ...

... . 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 ...

... MYSELF AT THE PICTURES Fox and Geese By James Agate ONE can imagine 20th Century-Fox saying something like this: You have now for some considerable time been seeing films dealing with brutal crimes portrayed by crea tures even less than sub-human; you have been fed on this diet until you are now arrived at a state which might be described as fed up. Good. We now give you an entirely different ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. COMPARATIVELY few works of fiction have had elderly heroes or heroines. But there are excep tions: Pere Goriot, for in stance, and, in the drama, King Lear. Mr. Frank Swin nerton has not only taken the title of his new novel, Thank less Child, from King Lear, he has also followed Shake speare's lead in making an old man the chief person in his story. There is no need to ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Little Foxes (Piccadilly) IN the theatre we may pass quite pleasant evenings with people whose company in life we should at all costs avoid. The foot lights, like cage bars at the Zoo, serve to neutralise antipathies, disarm prejudice, and encourage us to tolerate, even enjoy, the manners and customs of otherwise discouraging society. So should it have been with our ...

... --By Vernon Fane A Neu> Story by Helen Ashton Period Stuff of Other Days A Novel of the Air by James Aldridge Mr. Joyce Gary's Retrospective Pilgrimage MISS HELEN ASHTON 'S new novel begins well and continues at the same level, though it ends in disappointing conventionality. JOANNA AT LITTLEFOLD (Collins. 8s. 6d.)f although its cast of characters is almost exactly paired in males and females, ...

... MYSELF AT THE PICTURES Who Reads Film Criticism By James Agate WHY have our highbrow critics failed to perceive that the entire charm of the cinema lies in its quality of being ephemeral? Sit through a serious play in the theatre, and you will undergo an experience which lasts. Certainly until you get home, sometimes all next day, and sometimes for the rest of your life. I can think of pieces ...

... By Horace Horsnell Du Barry Was a Lady (His Majesty' s) WHEN the authors of musical comedy books turn their attention to the past, the muse of history may well have qualms. Not that Clio herself is always scrupulously impartial. She has been known to tolerate, if not to inspire, widely different versions of the same events, and to leave her votaries guessing. Yet her accredited agents have a ...

... Murder from Memory (Ambassadors) STRANGE that in a world war, with its universal killing, so many plays should be produced, for alleged entertainment and relaxation, in which killing is the main motive. I am not suggesting that in war time only the lighter stuff should be seen on the stage; that would rule out, for instance, Hamlet and Macbeth. But it is hardly necessary to add that ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE DU BARRY WAS A LADY.-- Although there is plenty of crudely farcical fun-- quite enjoyable if one is in the mood for it-- in this American musical-comedy at His Majesty's about a cloak-room attendant who, having seen a film about Madame Du Barry, dreams that he is not only at Versailles, back in the eighteenth century, but is Louis XV himself, I found my self not only ...

... NOVELS IN VARYING MOODS -By Vernon Fane Civil Servants and the Blitz Miss Georgette Heyers Literary Diversion A Weighty 7\[ovel by Taylor Caldwell A 7\[ew Story by Barbara Goolden TWO things are certain about the author of DARKNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR (Collins. 8s. 6d.); he knows a great deal about the London blitzes, and he knows a great deal about the activities of temporary Civil Servants. ...

... By Horace Horsnell Murder From Memory Ambassadors) GHOSTS that walk and talk were com paratively common in the old drama. They are seldom seen on the stage today. An impetuous thriller here and there may blend the quick and the dead, but such ghosts as a rule are of the red-herring order, more talked about than palpable. Few are cast for such important parts as that of the Ghost in Hamlet ...