CINEMA
MR. C. S. FORESTER'S Captain Horn blower, breathed into life by Mr. Gregory Peck, makes a sympathetic and attractive centrepiece for a picture devoted largely to the setting and furling of sails, to the firing of broadsides and to the polite sterile conversation tradi- tionally exchanged by H.M. officers when on duty in H.M. ships. In 1805 ships, whether English, French or 'Spanish, were objects of beauty, and those who sailed in them, cocked hats and telescopes brushing them with that Nelson touch, romantic creatures ; yet, though this film is good to look upon and its battles are extremely spirited, it has a lifelessness, an air of make-believe about it, which is hard to disperse. Perhaps this is partly due to the love-interest which, like so many of its predecessors, seems to be artificially grafted on to the main theme—in this instance like a meringue on a kipper—and which, with deference to Miss Virginia Mayo's gallant but inaccurate shot at being the Duke of Wellington's sister, is out of this world ; or at any rate out of this country. Still, though love lies bleeding and though the characters are, save for Mr. Peck, a shadowy crew—Messrs. Robert Beatty, James Robertson Justice and Denis O'Dea, to name a few, aye aye-ing without much indi- viduality—the film is fine to look at, goes at a fine pace and will be a great success.
At the Academy M. Marcel Carnd has directed a farce of M. Jacques Prdvert's which is as splendid a piece of nonsense as anyone on earth could wish for. Having a busman's holiday and evidently enjoying every minute of it is the creme de la crime of France's talent—MM. Louis Jouvet, Michel Simon, Jean-Louis Barrault and Alcover, and Mlle. Francoise Rosay. Set in Edwardian England it affords us, among other delights, the pleasure of seeing M. Jouvet, as a Bishop, wearing a kilt and a glengarry ; and anybody who has looked upon so awe-inspiring a sight must inevitably,. I think, die happy. This is an old film—indeed it initiated the partnership between Carnd and Privert which gave us Le Jour se Live and Les Enfants du Paradis—and why it has not been shown in this country before is a mystery. Hasten to see it. You need not run to see Jealousy unless you have a deep affec- tion, as so many people have, for Mr. Larry Parks. The story is one of those patented comedies concerning a wife who is a doctor and a husband who sits at home, and the only thing that makes this particular model a little different from the others is that its dialogue has an unexpected crispness. Mr. Parks, Miss Barbara Hale and Mr. Willard Parker form the eternal triangle and sometimes.succeed
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