THE CINEMA
" The Mask of Dimitrios." At Warners.—" Address Unknown." At the Tivoli. —" Children of the City." For Non-Theatrical Release. New French Films. For Future Release.
The Mask of Dimitrios reminded me of a conversation many years ago in which Peter Lorre, then newly arrived from Germany, en- larged upon his ambitions in screen comedy. Fritz Lang's " M " was still very much in our minds, and it was difficult to avoid a feeling of the macabre in listening to the famous impersonator of the Dussel- dorf murderer discussing with erudition the dramatic significance of the clown and clowning. Peter Lorre's subsequent experiences in Hollywood have on the whole been unhappy. His ability to portray the outward symptoms of inward warping has resulted in his mostly appearing as a sinister figure in the orthodox tradition. ,Occasionally he has been allowed his moments of comedy, but these have never called for deep insight. Now, in The Mask of Dimitrios, he pulls off a piece of characterisation which must have appealed to him. He is cast as a writer of mystery stories who, fascinated by the rumoured adventures of a dead criminal, decides to find out the truth about this international legend. So we follow the writer from the Balkans to Paris and back again, attended against his will by a portly and mysterious figure (Sidney Greenstreet), who also is interested, but from more sinister motives, in the infamous Dimitrios. The story on whit the film is based is by Eric Ambler, and its melodrama, insinuated rather than explicit, is given a thick atmosphere of slavonic mystery by the extremely competent direction of Mr. Jean Negulesco, who comes fully grown to his trade from the making of many excel- lent short films. His shots are always well composed and adapted to the sudden visual surprise, the alarming revelation. The com- plexities of the film's crimes are made credible by uniformly good acting. (Mr. Greenstreet has never been better), but it is the per- formance of Mr. Lorre which comes back into your mind after the SIT is over. In spite of the fact that he is handicapped by the sinister associations of his usual roles, he has given a moving portrait of a frightened yet obstinate little man, not gallant, dashing nor heroic, but a citizen fallen amongst thieves. Let us hope that Holly- wood will permit Mr. Lorne in his next picture to move yet one
step further from the sinister. In his ability to portray the uncon- querable victim of ludicrous circumstances, the pathetic but dignified little man, we may have some of the qualities, of another Chaplin.
Every now and again (so rarely that one fears it may be accidental) a familiar stellar face appears in an unfamiliar .role. Suddenly, is clear that all along an actor had been hidden away behind the stereo- typed grimaces. I call to mind Robert Young in H. M. Pulham, Esq., and Deanna Durbin in Christmas Holiday, now generally released. In this latter case the public has been sufficiently conscious of some- thing new and worthwhile to send Christmas Holiday off to a more profitable start in America (and probably here) than any previous Durbin picture. Another recent remarkable performance was from Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine. We had grown familiar over the years with the competent work of this actor as one heavy villain after another. Then suddenly he was presenting us with a much more credible picture of an anti-Nazi refugee than the screen had previously approached in all its many attempts. Here, indeed, was a man whose spirit had been tried to the breaking point by adversity. The phenomenon did not escape the notice of Mr. Lukas's pro- ducers, and in Address Unknown we have him once more called upon to move along the border-line of mental collapse This time he is a German-born American, who returns to Europe and is converted to Nazism by flattery and high office. Then he betrays his old anti- Nazi friends, and in revenge they drive him with horrifying ingenuity into the hands of the Gestapo. Weakness of spirit is the theme, and Mr. Lukas has been assisted by every pretentious device of set and lighting that the director could mobilise. Yet always one feels that he ,has .been instructed merely to sweat with fear as in Watch on the Rhine, and to leave the rest to the custqmers at the box-office. Another typed actor is born.
M.o.I. non-theatrical audiences (distributed throughout the factory canteens, Civil Defence posts, clubs and hostels of the country, they now aggregate zo millions a year) have the opportunity to view a remarkable short film on juvenile delinquency entitled Children of. the City. It follows the cases of three Scottish children who be- come involved in petty theft, and shows how and why the juvenile court orders three different methods of treatment, each appropriate to the child concerned. No extravagant claims are made for the methods of moral rehabilitation shown, and it is dear that the approved school is only a very partial answer to the most difficult cases. Yet in spite of (or because of) the appropriate gloominess of the material the film is outstanding amongst recent documentaries. The sympathetic understanding of its director, Miss Budge Cooper, is obvious throughout, and she has obtained astonishing perform- ances from the children and parents who act the illustrative episodes. Here is a picture of the spiritual inhibitions of poverty, of the con- stant struggle between the desire for novelty and excitement on the one hand and surrounding degradation on the other, which has validity and power outside the immediate purpose and context of the film.
Under the auspices of the French Ministry of Information, a number of studio films made by French technicians before liberation are being privately shown. No doubt these will soon be made available to the public, and they will provide a welcome addition to the meagre supplies of French work at present available. The films show that French acting and direction is still on its old high level, and that the attempt is still to create the living rather than the lay figure. The subjects viewed made no concessions to Nazi opinion or Nazi propaganda, and their production was no doubt permitted on the ground that the subject-matter is without political
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