... MYSELF AT THE PICTURES Gay and Grim By James Agate NOT always do we feel disposed to visit the cinema: there are days and days. So, after cutting our finger, upsetting the ink-pot on to our priceless Axminster, put ting two important business letters into the wrong envelopes, using a new mouth-wash instead of the accustomed Nufix for what we humorously call our hair, and ending up with ...

... 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 ...

... ARTISTRY-BIOGRAPHICAL and FICTIONAL --By Vernon Fane Arnold Palmer's Candid Biography Houses Old and j\[civ One of Alice Duer Miller's Earlier Novels Tough Characters and a Thriller That Really Thrills I HAVE no idea whether there is a critics' convention that opposes any favourable refer ence to a contemporary's dis position. If there is I intend to ignore it and to state that Mr. Arnold ...

... ■By Vernon Fane Captain Evelyn Waugh's Hew Hovel A Best-Seller from America Rachel Field's Last Work The English Romantic Movement I SHOULD like to thank Cap tain Evelyn Waugh for publishing WORK SUSPENDED (Chapman and Hall. 8s. 6d.). In a dedication to that wise old owl, Alexander Woollcott, the author says: This is the book on which I was at work in September 1939. It is now clear to me that ...

... 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 ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. THE most im pressive films I have seen in the past fortnight are both about war in the desert. One is British, the other Russian. Both, oddly enough, have numerical titles, The British film is NINE MEN (New Gallery). The Russian film is THE THIRTEEN (Tatler). Nine Men is directed by Harry Watt, the man who made Target for To-night and London Can Take It. Watt is one of ...

... GRAVITY, GAIETY and GHOSTS The Tragedy of Malaya Mr. Price Among the Mediums A Children's Book for Grown'Ups A Discursive Dachshund -By Vernon Fane THE Malayan campaign, and the loss of Singapore, re mains one of the greatest tragedies of the last three years of war; possibly the greatest defeat that British arms have suffered during that time. Mr. Ian Morrisons MALAYAN POSTSCRIPT (Faber. Ss. ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. IT is not often that earnest filmgoers have an oppor tunity of comparing the past with the present. Ours is an ephemeral art. What is here to-day is gone to-morrow-- and it seldom returns. But for once there is a return that is worth while, and one that does afford a certain amount of interesting comparison. At the London Pavilion is a revival of Miss Hedy Lamarr's first ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. TO dislike something very much does not neces sarily mean that one likes its opposite. But as a rule a strong prejudice in one direction does imply a corre sponding predilection in the other, and this is certainly true of Sir James Barrie, a selection of whose letters has recently been published under the dis cerning and vigilant editorship of Miss Viola Meynell. Barrie ...

... by Playbill THE theatre has probably never meant so much, both in London and the 'provinces, as it does to-day. That is not to say that every theatrical produc- tion is full of meaning; many of them, in- cluding some of the most popular, mean precious little. But there is a probably unprecedented boom, and the living drama, from Shakespeare to pantomime, is being supported (most London ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE THE little Windmill Theatre, with its non- stop revue (which has not stopped, save for necessary rest and refreshment a few hours in the twenty-four for the company, for ten years or so) has other claims to consideration in addition to its record of hard work and the fact that it is the only London theatre to have had a play written about it and produced in New York. I ...

... MEMOIRS, MURDER AND ADVENTURE -Bv Vernon Fane Sir Henry J\[ewbolt's Autobiography, and His Lighter Side Three J\[ew Thrillers The Balkans Under Fire and let- or SIR HENRY oOLT (Faber and Faber. 2 is.) comprise the second volume of his memoirs which he started writing in 1932, six years before his death, and they have been edited by Lady Newbolt. This part of his reminiscences and diaries ...