... . By C. A. LEJEUNE. Hollywood takes a rest from propa ganda speeches, Commando raids and sinister little yellow men, and gives us the lighter side of war in THE MORE THE MERRIER (Gaumont) The piece, which is an acceptable diversion for us too, is concerned with America s nome iront and wartime Washington's famous housing shortage. In the national emergency, with eight girls to every man in ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Lisbon Story (Hippodrome) LIBRETTISTS who seek to break away from hampering convention in their writing of -'books for musical plays need all the encouragement they can get. They are a kind of perpetual pioneers, faced with pitfalls and problems that might well daunt genius itself. Few are as fortunate-- or for that' matter as successful-- as Da Ponte, who adapted the ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE 'THE LISBON STORY.-- A theatre's tradi tion can be a trifle dangerous. Almost ever since I have known the London Hippodrome it has been associated with light-hearted, amusing shows (though it started its career as a cinema, than which, in my opinion, no form of alleged entertainment is more depressing). The Lisbon Story, its latest production, is not in the least funny ...

... ORATORY THAT WILL LIVE FOR EVER -By Vernon Fane The Speeches of English Prime Ministers from Walpole to Churchill A Stirring Diary of Malta A Tale of Wartime France Complicated Deaths and Loves THERE is a rich treasury to be found in a book that I have only started to study this week, and that I hope to keep by me for years as a reference and refresher course in English oratory. ENGLAND IS ...

... INTERESTING FACTS AND POWERFUL FICTION --By Vernon Fane France is Still Full of Frenchmen Charles Graves, The Compleat Home Guard The Progress of Simenon Rex Stout and James M. Fox in Classic Detection and Tough Fiction DURING the past year there have been two novels written by men who have understood, loved and respected the French people, and who have been able to portray them with all their ...

... : Reviewed by Trevor Allen WHEN I read a novel in these home-bound days I not only want a good story, I want to go places by proxy. Miss Katharine Brush's You Go Your Way (Cassell, 7s. 6d.) whisks me to the New York of cocktails, highballs, wisecracks, snappy dialogue, and divorce. Connie, you see, who wore a sleek black satin dress that loved her figure, had wilful ideas about marriage. ...

... STORIES OF THE WORLD OF TO-DAY -By Vernon Fane J. B. Priestley's New Novel A Soldier's Escape from France The Artistry of Edward Seago A New Edition of Sir Banister Fletcher's Architecture THERE may be many views of Mr. J. B. Priestley as a radio speaker; there can be few divergent opinions about him as a novelist. There is a school of thought which sees in him the true descendant of Dickens, ...

... Reviewed by PHILIP PAGE LOTTIE DUNDASS.-- Rare indeed are good plays about the theatre and back stage life. Until the production of Miss Enid Bagnold's play at the Vaudeville I would have said there were only two-- relawney of the Wells and The Light of Heart. In some ways Lottie Dundass is better than either-- and that not merely because it is a- thriller which really does thrill. There ...

... A DIVERSE ASSORTMENT OF BOOKS -By Vernon Fane An Author 'Photographer in Burma The Letters of a Tory Gentleman Tforway Under the j\[azi Jackboot War Stories by Fighting Men IT is natural that the best part of Mr. George Rodger's book, RED MOON RISING (Cresset Press, i 2s. 6d.), should be the photo graphs, and this is no invidi ous comment, since he is the brilliant photographer of Life and ...

... 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 The Russians (Playhouse) A HUNDRED years separate the writing of that lovely play, A Month in the Country, from that of this heroic contemporary melodrama; and though they are both Russian, they have as little in common as peace and war. For whereas Turgenev approaches his theme romantically, and handles it as a poet, Konstantin Simonov, author of The Russians, writes as a ...

... 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 ...