... . By L. P. HARTLEY. MODEST heroes are apt to be a little self- conscious about their modesty; one respects them for this, but all the same it may become an irritating trait, almost as irritating as boastfulness. une ot tne pleasantest features in the very pleasant character of Corporal Jack is his open- minded attitude towards his own achievements. We can not say that he was a hero malgre hti, ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE FLYING COLOURS.-- With a bit more polish and a slicker production this revue at the Lyric Theatre would have flown to even more colourful heights. As it is, it is pretty good and certainly well above the average. With Miss Binnie Hale and Mr. Douglas Byng in the cast, furnished, as they are here, with worthy material, this could hardly fail to be so. Miss Hale appears ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. PROBABLY the most contro versial film produced in this country during our entire screen history is THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP. It will rouse pas sions and debates wherever it is shown. It will delight some people, and infuriate others. It will prove a knotty problem when the ques tion of export comes to be considered. Will it do good to our reputa tion abroad ...

... . Starred by The Sketch highest value WATCH ON THE RHINE (Aldwych). Diana Wynyard, Anton Walbrook, Athene Seyler, Margar etta Scott. Anti-Nazis in U.S. 44 FLARE PATH 44 (Apollo). R.A.F. ops. Adrianne Allen. 44 BLITHE SPIRIT 44 (Duchess). Noel Coward's play. Kay Ham mond, Cecil Parker, Irene Browne. 44 PINK STRING AND SEALING WAX (Duke of York's). 1880 Brighton comedy. Iris Hoey, Dorothy ...

... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. THE old spacious days of the Continental cinema are recalled this week in TARAKANOVA, the French film at Studio One. inis is a costume piece about the court of Catherine of Russia, and it has been presented with a camera eye for beauty that amounts almost to a passion. Beautiful sets, beautiful faces', beautiful compositions of figures are tenderly lit and photographed ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. DESCRIBED by Mr. Priestley as a novel about an aircraft fac tory, Daylight on Satur day is a story with a strong topical interest. Many people who do not know how a factory works would like to; and many who do know will be interested to see the impression it makes on a writer of Mr. Priestley's understanding and discernment. duui groups, cue ignorant and the initiated, ...

... l^^'-w HISTORY will have a place for the home front as well as battle-front chronicler. I can see posterity turning to Mr. James Wedgwood Draw- bell's All Change Here (Hutchinson, 10s. 6d.) to know what we did, thought, and talked about through these anxious days of war, for he is a lively, alert Pepys of journalism, netting the pass ing moment with the whoop of a boy after a butter fly. ...

... By Horace Horsnell Strike a New Note (Prince of Wales) IN this type of popular revue, a new note is certainly to be welcomed; and if Mr. George Black's latest rouser does not con sistently strike it, the players do. They are young, eager, and professional. The programme informs us that they are boys and girls who have been gathered from every part of the country, needing but the opportunity to ...

... By Horace Horsnell Everyman: International Ballet (Lyric) IN the old days one of the minor pleasures of the ballet was the Argument, or synopsis of the plot, printed on the programme. This was written in a style all its own, romantic and elusive; and, often less explicit than the action it sought to explain, it fascinated rather than enlightened. One read it hurriedly before the house-lights ...

... TU By Horace Horsnell Living Room (Garrick) ONCE upon a time there were two kindly old maids named Vicky and Deborah who lived with Molly, their niece, in a fool's paradise somewhere up north. They were neither rich nor poor, but just com fortable. Their father had left, them a little house property for what they had fondly assumed was life. And since Molly, their only relative, was an orphan, ...

... By Horace Horsnell Ten Little Niggers (St. James's) THE best nightmares do not always inspire the best table-talk. Indeed, as related at breakfast by their still quaking dreamers, they can be notoriously tedious. So is it with critical post-mortems on stage thrillers. In action these apocryphal affairs may excite or amuse by keeping the playgoer in thrilled suspense; but, like fireworks or ...

... By Horace Horsnell Landslide f Westminster) THIS drama of adolescent adventure in the Alps comes to us from the French, but seems somehow to have lost its way. It promises to be a problem-raiser, but thinks, I won't say better, but less seriously, of it. In older days it might have been a morality thriller, propounding, through the plight of its characters and their behaviour under stress, ...