CONTEMPORARY ARTS
CINEMA
ig Love Happy." (Carlton.)--,4 The Man in a White Suit." (Odeon, Marble Arch.)--44 The Iron Man." (Gaumont and Marble Arch Pavilion.) ONE of the greatest tragedies of all time is now on view at the Carlton—a Marx Brothers film which fails to amuse. I should be only too happy to believe that the passing years have blunted my sense of humour, that I have, in fact, become too old for Marxist gaminerie, but, when a whole clutch of critics with their attendant friends and relations sit in sad silence and emerge with gloomy faces, my fears—that this is a bad film—must be confirmed. It is true that we are now accustomed to the haywire, familiar with the crazy, and the Marx Bros. can no longer be expected to stun us with their antics ; yet one could surely hope for a few surprises, for a few new tricks from Harpo and a couple of new gags from--Groucho. In Love Happy not only is everything the same but it is also not nearly so good, even Harpo's harp emitting a buzzing sound which sets up unpleasant vibrations ; and one feels that the whole thing has been slapped together anyhow without imagination, originality or care, relying solely on our memories of past pleasures to produce the desired reactions.
Mixed up in the usual welter of horn-blowing, roof-chasing, piano- playing and cigar-smoking is Miss Vera-Ellen, whose dancing is considerably handicapped by the violences of an indescribable plot. There is also a lady called Miss Ilona Massey who, as a Russian seductress, battles against fearful odds as did the never-to-be- forgotten Mrs. Rittenhouse. Nobody, however, not even Groucho —who incidentally is employed as a commentator and rarely appears—can build a .house with second-hand straw. Admirers of the Marx Brothers can only hold their breaths and weep at the sight of it. * sle The laughs, for which the brothers work so hard and unavailingly, can be heard hitting the star-encrusted dados of the Odeon, Marble Arch, in rich spontaneous waves. Here we have Mr. Alec Guinness as a young scientist who invents a material which will last for ever and never get dirty, and the film concerns the efforts of both mill- owners and mill-hands to prevent his putting it on the market, thereby wrecking the industry from top to toe. s Written by Mr. Roger McDougall and directed by Mr. Alexander Mackendrick (who had such a success with Whisky Galore), it is one of those masterpieces of British humour- which we are now learning to expect in regular consignments from Ealing Studios, and in which no flaw can be detected by anyone with a light heart and a love of the absurd. With a big cast which includes among other talents those of Miss Joan Greenwood, Miss Vida Hope and Messrs. Michael Gough, Cecil Parker, Ernest Thesiger and Miles Malleson, it revolves as gaily as a top around the shining light that is Mr. Guinness in a luminous white suit. It is full of witty touches, both verbal and visual, touches which make one catch one's breath with pleasure and leave one, . long afterwards, feeling • extraordinarily happy.
The Iron Man, on the other hand, merely leaves one feeling exhausted. It is one of those boxing dramas, the protagonist this time being Mr. Jeff Chandler as a champion who has to fight not only against men but also against an ungovernable temper. Directed by Mr. Joseph Pevney, the picture has, particularly in its first sequences which deal with mental rather than physical struggles, a certain rugged grandeur, but then it becomes all smash and bash with Mr. Chandler's face assuming dreadful shapes and sizes to the tune of a thousand ugly voices yelling for blood. As far as I am
concerned a little blood goes a long way. VIRGINIA- GRAHAM.
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