CINEMA
"The Woman in Question." (Gaumont and Marble Arch Pavilion.) —" Jackpot." (Leicester Square.) The Woman in Question is a straightforward murder story handled in a very original fashion. In questioning the corpse's entourage, her friends, relatives and visitors, the police show us that not one woman, but at least five or six totally different women have been killed. For the murdered woman was, to Miss Hermione Baddeley—and how divinely funny she is—a real lady, to Miss Susan Shaw she was a drunken slut, to Mr. Dirk Bogarde a super-tramp, to Mr. Charles Victor an icing- sugar angel and to Mr. John McCallum an unfaithful mistress. Miss Jean Kent acts all these roles, these varying views of herself as seen through the eyes of others, and she acquits herself honourably even if the honours are not exactly flying. The idea, which sets one wondering not only which of Miss Kent's selves is the real woman, but also which of one's own delicious selves is the real me, has piquancy, yet, because action is at a minimum and talk at the maximum, one becomes a trifle weary of it all in the end. Mr. Anthony Asquith has directed the film skilfully and with a number of distinctive touches, but the script does not permit him to get out and about sufficiently. Faces talking are all vety, well, but a camera has wider functions.
Jackpot is an extremely entertaining comedy concerning the fortunes and misfortunes which beset a man and his family when he wins a radio contest and becomes the owner of prizes ranging from a hundred cans of soup to a pony. Mr. James Stewart and Miss Barbara Hale squeeze every drop of humour out of the various perplexing situations, and they are funny, endearing and altogether charming. VIRGINIA GRAHAM.
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