THE CINEMA
"The Hurricane." At the Od n—" The Bad Man of Brim- stone." At the Empire WrrH hey, ho, the wind and the rain—such sm kings and wettings, such blasts and billows, such slaughterings of mn cents, have not been seen since the last spectacular film (was it San Francisco?). Yet—dare one say it—the monster storm which gives The Hurricane its raison d'Itre is just a shade too long. Temerarious though it may be to argue with James Basevi (tempest-maker-in-chief), about the probable duration of the end of the world, one has a distinct feeling that the twenty minutes of spectacularity would have been more telling had it been reduced to ten ; and this in spite of the vast variety of suspense elements which are linked with the impressive physical assault of the tornado—for, note you, the hero and his family are lashed to a wave-swept banyan which strains ever more eagerly at its roots, the priest and his congregation await apocalyptic destruction in the church (what splitting of walls and collapses of belfries), and the doctor bobs about on a succession of tidal waves in the cramped canoe he is using as a provisional maternity hospital. But there remains a limit to our reactions ; after a quarter of an hour of Judgement Day the jaw drops, a glassy look comes into the eyes, and the final blows of the hurricane tend to miss their mark. But perhaps it is unkind to carp at a sequence which is mercifully free of dialogue and which uses all the legitimate possibilities of action and movement which the perpetual drawing-room comedies so glaringly lack.
The Hurricane has, of course, more to it than a storm. It introduces a newcomer, Jon Hall, of magnificent physique and not unattractive features, who looks as though he could be trained to act. He fits well into the part of the innocent half- caste, condemned to imprisonment for an assault on a white man committed under the greatest provocation. His attempts to escape are as exciting as the old-time serials, and there is as much brutality in the way of whipping and torture as one might expect from a story by the authors of Mutiny on the Bounty.
Raymond Massey, looking unbearably irritating in a topee and a stiff collar, plays the unbending Governor, and C. Aubrey Smith turns up as a local priest, complete with invisible Wurlit- zer ; this actor, with his extraordinary voice and rugged features, is becoming one of those phantasies from Hollywood which we could ill afford to do without ; whether he inspires sobs or giggles he is definitely a dear.
Finally, the film is good to look at. Palm trees, glittering water and panchromatic skies recreate once again the standard but always enjoyable picture of the South Seas ; and, with all due respect to the hurricane, the most satisfying sequence is the passage of a white schooner through the narrow gap in a reef; beautifully shot and brilliantly cut, this sequence is the sort of thing that makes film-going worth while.
The Bad Man of Brimstone is certainly a real villain. One of his more engaging habits is that of shooting unarmed men through the stomach, without warning. It says much for Wallace Beery's charm that he retains our befuddled sympathies to the end, aided by the story, which puts him in the awkward position of finding out that his arch-enemy on the side of law and order is his long lost son. Bad man he may be, but this sends him all sentimental, and he ends by making the three thousandth version of the Great Sacrifice (with acknowledgments to Stella Dallas). The film is welcome, however, because of its insistence on action and the open-air—the old magic of the Western ; the cast—with the exception of Virginia Bruce, a talented actress impossibly mis- cast as a Blonde of the Bloodstained West—is excellent. But it is Wallace Beery's film, even though one would prefer him to remain a little tougher and a little less parental.
For cartoon students Little Red Walking Hood, which sup- ports The Hurricane, is recommended. It derives neither from Disney nor Fleischer, but rather from the comic strip columns of the American Press. True, it misses the epic lunacy of Herriman's ICrazy Kat strip, but its gags and its dialogue are fresh and pleasantly surprising. It is good to see that further variations in cartoon style are being attempted. Of all tech- niques it is the least suited to monopoly tactics.
BASIL WRIGHT.
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