... By Horace Horsnell Arsenic and Old Lace (Strand) THOUGH poised to begin with somewhat perilously between the comic and the macabre, this ruthless comedy comes down so deftly on the side of the wicked burlesque that laughter, which might have been self-conscious or constrained, becomes both spontaneous and full-throated. Its theme is homicidal mania; its two most charming characters are active ...

... TO most people the name of Lourdes conveys something to do with miracu lous cures. A few may be able to go further and debate the miracles. Franz Werfel, a refugee from Germany, had managed to reach Lourdes in 1941 when new moves by Vichy and the Nazis seemed to seal his fate. Re vowed that if ever he reached America he would tell the world about Lourdes, and now he has magnificently fulfilled ...

... Reviewed by Noel Thompson THE dramatic and overshadowing events of the war have swamped the memories of the Spanish Civil War with all its tragedy and its rehearsals for the present conflict. Ann Bridge provides a skilful reminder in Frontier Passage (Chatto and Windus. 9s.). Interwoven with the love story of a journalist and a Spanish countess of opposing political sympathies are vivid ...

... MYSELF AT THE PICTURES Adult and Juvenile By James Agate OUT of the blue or the cellars of Studio One, which amounts to very much the same thing, comes Derrière la Facade, a small French film so good that it takes all Hollywood's monster productions between finger and thumb and puts them into a sack, which it then deposits in the Atlantic half-way between Hollywood and the port of entry into ...