THE CINEMA
"The Velvet Glove." (Odeon, Marble Arch.)—"Any Number Can Play." (Empire.)—" Red, Hot and Blue." (Plaza.)
IT is lovely to see Miss Rosalind Russell again, so elegant, cool and sophisticated, swathed about in rich furs and crowned with cocks' feathers. One hoped, on seeing her thus arrayed, that The Velvet Glove would turn out to be a comedy, or perhaps a tragedy of manners, but it is hardly possible these days to divorce the screen from violence and Miss Russell must needs pick up a statuette and bang Mr. Leon Ames on the head with it. Mr. Ames has just told her that if she persists in her intention of quitting light comedy to Play Hedda Gabler for another Broadway, producer, he will so blacken her in the eyes of her new-found love, Mr. Leo Genn, that no soap on earth will ever get her clean again. It says much for Miss Russell's devotion to her art that she prefers to murder him rather than stick for another second in drawing-room comedy. Miss Claire Trevor' who comes across Mr. Ames's body, is accused of the crime, and the rest of the film is devoted to the question Whether Miss Russell will or will not confess her guilt to Mr. Sydney Greenstreet who, in his inimitable way, is playing at being a Policeman.
This picture is magnificently acted by everyone concerned, its dialogue is infinitely above the average even if it occasionally soars hi° high, and the direction, by Mr. John Gage, is as shiny and as slick as a magazine cover. If the characters portrayed thereon are a bit slick and shiny too, they never completely lose touch with reality. The camera work is lovely. Mr. Genn does well for Eng- land, and in addition to the polished performances of the stars there is a gem of a sketch by Mr. Dan Tobin, as a New York columnist. * * * * In Any Number Can Play we have Mr. Clark Gable as the owner of a gambling joint ; a man honest and upright but despised by his son for his profession and mourned by his wife, Miss Alexis Smith, for permanently working on the night shift. To add to his burdens Mr. Gable has a corrupt brother-in-law and angina. So he is sad. Which is always nice. I am not certain whether this film set out to prove anything—any message regarding man's favourite vice escaped me—but Mr. Mervyn i.e Roy's direction is sufficiently brilliant to blind one to any defects in story or characterisation. This film has many moments of quality, and even when it sinks below the level of credibility it retains a firm hold on the attention. Mr. Gable is very good indeed, and manages, in spite of neither looking nor behaving like a gambler, to fox one into believing he is one.
* * Red, Hot and Blue can also be classified as a violent picture inas- much as its heroine, Miss Betty Hutton, has such appallingly high spirits and waves her arms and legs about with such ferocious abandon, and sings so stridently, and falls down so frequently, that one is left at the end as limp as a lily after a hurricane. In the midst of this knockabout, cacophanous and outstandingly poor farce Mr. Victor Mature bravely tries to act, but the poor fellow hasn't a chance. Even he has to smear a plateful of waffles on a neigh- bouring face. As for Miss Hutton, she is worthy of better things, even if it entails taking bromide to get them. VIRGINIA GRAHAM.
Previous page
