"The Barretts of Wimpole Street." At the Empire THE action
of Rudolf Besier's play, from which this film has been adapted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is confined to Elizabeth Barrett's invalid bed-sitting-room. On the stage this single setting has a positive advantage, for the whole atmosphere of the Barrett household can be concentrated in that one room, and the audience can feel that they, too, are living in that room and sharing the struggle of the Barrett daughters against their fanatical l'apa. I doubt whether this intimate relationship between audience and characters can ever be established on the screen, for it depends on a subtle co-operation between living persons separated only by the footlights. A screen performance, however good, is simply presented to the audience, who are never able to enter into it and to modify it, as they can do in the theatre, by the quality of their own response. Perhaps the only way to establish intimate touch between film characters and a film audience is to express the inner life of the characters in terms of visual imagery, but this is a difficult task seldom attempted. The most successful films, as a rule, are those in which the situations are not purely personal—in which the characters exist as the servants of dramatic issues not wholly derivel from, or dependent on, their personal feelings.
In The Barrels of Winipole Street the issues are purely personal ; they are not even typical of life in other mid- Victorian households, for, even in that age of formidable Papas, Edward. Moulton-Barrett was certainly a rare specimen. Hence the film, in spite of the genuine skill and sincerity put into its production, never approaches the success of the play in imposing its atmosphere on the audience. It would have had a better chance if Charles Lnughton had not been cast as Papa, for there is nearly always something youthful, alMost boyish, about Mr. Laughton's acting ; and into the complex character of Edward Moulton-Barrett- father of nine grown-up children—nothing remotely youthful should be allowed to enter. Miss Norma Shearer, as Elizabeth, and Mr. Fredric March, as Robert Browning, both give lively and pleasant performances, playing up to one another with spirited dexterity, but here again there are difficulties, as there must be when celebrated film stars are asked to impersonate historical characters recently alive in the flesh. Miss Shearer and Mr. March are both too handsome ever to be mistaken for their prototypes, and it is seldom possible to forget that they are acting, even when they are acting very well. However, Miss Maureen O'Sullivan is excellent as Henrietta, the daughter who wants to marry a Guardsman ; Miss Una O'Connor is neatly amusing as Wilson, the faithful parlour-maid ; Flush, the spaniel, is thoroughly life-like ; and most of the mid-Victorian details are skilfully rendered. There are, too, a few genuinely dramatic moments when the chilling shadow of Papa casts its hush over the young people assembled in Elizabeth's room ; and the contrast between her imprisoned existence and her hopes of freedom and sunshine in Italy is effectively suggested. But a film which runs for one hour and forty-eight minutes needs more than dramatic moments ; it needs a broadly dramatic story which can be told to the eye as well as to the ear.
"Unfinished Symphony." At the New Gallery • I reviewed Unfinished Symphony when it was shown in its original German form at the Curion Cinema last March, and I need now only recommend this English adaptation— produced by Gaumont under the supervision of Anthony Asquith-as a workmanlike job. Hans Jaray, as Schubert, and Marta Eggerth, as Count Esterhazy's daughter, repeat their original performances in English ; newcomers to the cast include Ronald Squire and Esme Percy ; and " dubbing " has been skilfully used to give English dialogue to a few of the smaller parts. The story is a fairy7tale, but no gross liberties are taken with Schubert's character. The atmosphere is romantic without too much sentiment ; the music is very well reproduced ; and some of the Hungarian landscapes, plains and cornfields, are particularly attractive.
CHARLES DAVY.
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