THE CINEMA
" Courage of Lassie " and " Bikini—The Atom Island." At the Empire.—"Laurel and Hardy." At the Cameo.—"United Harvest." General Release.
LASSIE, as you must know by this time, is a collie dog who for histrionic purposes impersonates a bitch. As an animal actor he is the most successful since the lamented Rin=Tin-Tin. The current film is a little bewildering, since despite the title, he has reverted to his real sex and is known as Bill. Despite a pleasant opening sequence there is nothing much to note in the story other than the routine facts ; that is, the colour is quite pretty, the story mawkish, and the relations between humans and animals provide the usual example of what may best be called the Bathetic Fallacy.
To the Empire Cinema also falls the lot of presenting the year's most nauseating film. Entitled Bikini—The Atom Island, it portrays the removal of the inhabitants to a neighbouring atoll, in order to make way for the recent jolly experiment by the U.S. Navy. The commentary, spoken in a treacly voice, is reminiscent of all the less attractive traits of Uriah Heep ; and die sequence which describes how the population (who are Christians) willingly leave their homes for the good of mankind is in mood and expression quite abominable. Indeed, the whole film reeks of the meretricious and hypocritical, and is a fortunately rare example of an attempt to justify the ways of man to God. I suppose our next treat in this line will be a short celled Noah's Atomic Ark, which will reveal the happy condition of the pigs and goats and rats in the warships on their way to Bikini.
After which it is a comfort to report that there is a Laurel and Hardy repertory season at the Cameo, Charing Cross Road. Opinions appear to be as sharply divided over these comedians as over the Marx Brothers ; but if, like the present writer, you regard their films as examples of the most inspired clowning, the present season will provide you with a lively pleasure every week. Revivals of some of their better feature films are, by the way, overdue ; it would be good to see again Fra Diavolo (for the great cellar scene) and, above all, Way Out West, which is probably one of the funniest films ever made.
Ralph Keene's United Harvest, now on . general release, is an ably produced short dealing with world food problems in relation to this country. At times it is over simplified to the point of naiveté, and it ends rather abruptly in mid-story ; but that may be due to the world rather than the maker of the film. In any case, the National Farmers' Union, who sponsored the production, are to be congratu- lated on the width of vision behind the film, which might so easily have been devoted to narrower and more parochial issues. There is, incidentally, a well-directed sequence of a French railway station, in which an unknown actor gives a delicious performance as a ticket
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