THE CINEMA
4, Nightmare Alley." (Plaza.)—"Ride the Pink Horse." (New Gallery.)—" The Pirate." (Empire.) Nightmare Alley sets out to prove, in an original setting, that though you can fool most of the people most of the time you will find in the end, quite simply, that dishonesty does not pay. It is nice to know that, at any rate in the film world, this principle still holds good. Mr. Tyrone Power rises from being a skilful circus trickster to reading written messages blindfolded in a night club, and then with the aid of an unscrupulous female psycho-analyst seeks fresh pasturage in the field of bogus spiritualism. It is here, while bringing spurious comfort to a naive millionaire, that his fraudulence provokes heaven to justifiable anger. Cast into the awful darkness of drink, he ends up as a Geek, which is a half-man half-beast freak in a circus.
Unpleasant as this film may be, it is extremely competent and admirably acted by Mr. Power and the Misses Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray and Helen Walker. The circus scenes have great quality And an atmosphere as pungent as the real thing, and if it is depressing to see how infinitely gullible is the human race and how it yearns to be duped, there is also something rather touching about it. In more exalted spheres Mr. Power's quasi-religious approach to the suffering rich is most convincing, and, as is the way with so many crooks, he really does a tremendous amount of good. Based on the most flagrant dishonesty his nonsense nevertheless brings solace to many weary hearts and his exposure causes untold pain. When the guilty fall, as fall they should, it is grievous that they tend to fall on the innocent. Those who like their Montgomery romantic need not see Ride the Pink Horse at the New Gallery, for in this strange taut thriller, set in Mexico, he starts bitter and disillusioned and ends bitter and disillusioned. Miss Wanda Hendrix, who is extremely attractive in a nice brown way, does her best to sweeten him, but Mr. Mont- gomery, out for revenge, is such a good actor and enters so deeply into his part that in a very un-Hollywoodish way he refuses to be himself. It is refreshing to find someone who cares so little for his public. He is not in the least charming, and when he laughs, which happens twice, he makes a sound about as mirthful as a road drill. Mr. Montgomery has also directed this picture, with a loving eye for detail perhaps, but not very much else. He has built up a solid character for himself, but the gang of double-crossing thugs are too stereotyped (though one of them, it is true, is deaf) to be satisfactory, and the action far too slow. Our hero too is largely monosyllabic, correct of course for a tough guy about to try a little blackmail, but too correct to be entertaining. While admiring Mr. Montgomery for his consistency, one cannot help wishing he had been consistent in a more amiable role.
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Miss Judy Garland and Mr. Gene Kelly are co-starred this week in a musical fantasy called The Pirate. The action, which is violent, is set on an island in the Caribbean Sea, and the Technicolors are so garish it is advisable to go armed, or rather nosed, with a pair of dark glasses. Miss Garland has, I think, a real talent for comedy ; Mr. Kelly is a superb dancer. Perhaps it is greedy to ask for more, yet one surely might expect 'better tunes from Mr. Cole Porter and better casting from M.G.M. ? No one carries the torch higher than I do for Miss Gladys Cooper, but neither her face nor her manner is that of a Spanish duenna, and, although nothing matters in this film which is infinitely silly but gay, she makes it matter
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