Evening star. [volume], November 02, 1944, Page B-12, Image 33

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
H
A *tory that
look* life
»troight in
the eye . . .
and blink*
at nothing!
\r'f
wi,h
ethel Barrymore
Barry FITZGERALD
June DUPREZ Jane WYATT
Produced by Dovid Hemptteod • Directed by Clifford Odeti • V’n» n.r y, cwtord Odt* 1
Horn the novel bv Bichord Llewellyn, ovithor of "How Sreen Wet My Volley" j j j
; _- SUPER-SHOCK SENSATION ** THE MASTER RACE ^_Y jj j
In tte pulsing I
Jart of miiniglit j
ter testing tesrt
toU ter. ■ • ttis is
its . tKe romance
1 every woman
I topes to tnu» • •
_ l T
M '— _ Doors open
| OC/^tV 10:30 a. m.
La*. NO ADVANCE IN PRICES
__ -
111
DAPHNE ("REBECCA")
do MAURIER’S daring
drama of exciting love
and dangerous adventure
elTwenbrTfM',
Pnmwoimt Vrescnts
Joan Tontaine
flrturo 'be CbrdoVa
| CnpaC ~
MITCHELL LEISEN
PRODUCTION
wi»t Basil Rathhone • Nigel Bruce
|j Cecil Kellaway • Ralph Forhes
\ IN TECHNICOLOR
*
r y Warner Bros.
Ea^le a
Murder Wears an Urbane Mask
In Thriller, ’Laura,’ at Palace
By JAY CARMODY.
Murder among the urbane, the folk wno are supposed to anesthetize
their emotions with sophistication and alcohol, is almost invariably more
popular than any other kind. That is almost certain to prove true in
the case of "Laura,” which opened today at Loew's Palace, with Gene
Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb. Judith Anderson and some other:
slick performers more commonly associated with Chanel 5 than with
i bloodshed. They all are fascinating-'
! ly suave in this 20th Century-Fox
J version of Vera Caspary's whodunit,
; which was praised as quite a literate
thing when it appeared in novel
form.
There is only one flaw, and that
not a maiming one, in “Laura.”
That is the fundamental assump
tion of the script writers that they
are making every one extremely
witty, that the merest commonplace
of dialogue is the sort of thing that
columnists covering the smart set
would send winging to 6,000.000
newspaper readers tomorrow after
noon. It is hardly true, except in
the case of Clifton Webb, an actor
who appears to have started in
babyhood to master the art of the
j icy Insult . The others too often
seem merely to admire the art in
stead of having mastered it. As we
say. however, the air of excitement
that pervades the atmosphere of
“Laura” will take care of such a
! defect.
* * * *
The gloss which becomes gory as
"Laura’ unfolds is to be found
chiefly in its Park avenue settings
iand the people who occupy them.
The latter are primarily an arrogant
columnist, a brilliant young adver
tising woman, a laconic and very
wise young detective lieutenant, and
the ne er-do-well son of a once
prominent Kentucky family. It is a
slick quadrangle they make, to
which another is periodically added
in the form of a wealthy middle
aged woman whose emotions are
! distinctly erratic.
Into the somewhat jaded lives of
these brittle people comes an at
tractive corpse, who has been most
unattractively murdered by getting
a double load of buckshot in her
beautiful face. Not since an ambi
tious reporter sought to whip up ex
citement by recording, “The nude
body of a well-dressed man was
found floating today In the East
River,” has a murder been better
dressed than this one.
Its columnist (Webbi is to be so
sartorially perfect that the picture
dares to introduce him sitting in his
bathtub turning out his next day's
earth-shaking revelations about the
private lives and thoughts of his
wide circle of acquaintances. Its
heroine 'Miss Tierney > is a girl who
looks as if she were the solitary cli
ent of Valentina, and even the hard
boiled detective (Andrews' is a man
to whom the haughtiest tailor could
point with pride.
Without giving away anything ol
Miss Caspary's mystery, it may be
said that the murderer clearly is one
of the exclusive group. It is the de
tective's job, of course, to track them
all down, a pursuit which leads him
to some of the loveliest lairs along
Park avenue. Little old Ming vases,
trinkets from the tombs of the
Egyptian kings, clocks and other
items which would make a museum
arrogant are scattered among the
lives of the group as a tired old oak
I scatters its leaves in October.
* * * dr
Most dramatic character of the lot
is difficult to select among so many
fancy frames, but this department's
guess is that it will be Mr. Webb
He is the epitomization of the in
sufferable columnist, the man who
trades Insult and vilification for fa
vors and courtesies, but he still man
ages his engaging moments in his
dealings with the heroine and the
detective. Palpably, Mr. Webb ls one
of the slickest performers the movies
have laid their hands on in seasons,
a thing that Broadway would have
been glad to tell the movies years
ago.
Miss Tierney, whose stately loveli
ness has been her chief asset in so
many earlier pictures, is given an
opportunity to register dramatically
in 'Laura1’ and manages it quite
AMUSEMENTS.
Laura.' a ’ZOth Century-Fox picture,
with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrew.*
produced and directed by Otto Preminger,
screen play by Jay Dratler. Samuel Hoffen
stein and Betty Reinhardt; adapted from
the novel by Vera Caspars'. At the Palace.
The Cast.
Laura . . __ Gene Tierney
Mark McPherson ... Dana Andrews
Waldo Lydecker Clifton Webb
Shelby Carpenter _- Vincent Price
Ann Treadwell _...Judith Anderson
Bessie Clary _ Dorothy Adams
McAvity _ James Flavin
Bullitt _ Clyde Fillmore
Fred Callahan Ralph Dunn
Corey . Grant Mitchell
Louise Kathleen Howard
competently within the limits of the
script.
Miss Anderson is quite startlingly
removed from her old stature as
Lady Macbeth in her current cinema
assignment as the fading charmer of
"Laura," a woman who competes
with the beautiful younger members
of her sex by flashing a checkbook
under thp nose of the handsomest
handy male. It is not a very testing!
role tor her, obviously, but it is to
the advantage of the‘picture that
she was willing to play it.
* ♦ * *
Andrews is not normally surround
ed by such lustrous players, but he
brings off his detective part with
just the touch that Director Otto
Preminger wanted. So does Vincent
Price as the weakling whose fatal
fascination for women is a plausible
thing at all times.
Murder, as we say, has not looked
so attractive in several seasons.
For the Duration
Pv the Associatpd Press.
HOLLYWOOD.
Sound concentrators have disap
peared from the movies, probably
for the duration. They are huge
microphonic devices designed to
pick up the noise of airplanes ap
proaching at great distances so film
companies, operating outdoors,
could stop work and prevent cam
era sound tracks from being ruined.
The Government has taken over the
last of them for military service.
AMUSEMENTS.
_ALL KEATS SOI.U
* DAYS BEG. NEXT SUN. NITE
THRU SUN. MAT. & EVE., NOV. 12
Q oiorous musical mast fee i set $
BLOSSOM
l*“.TIME-3*J
f”* • SI.2*. SI.SO, S2 40. S3.00 (tax Hm.)
H,0. Mai.: 60c. SI 20; Orch.. SI SO.
Oal.-SKK. Mat..; 00c. SI 20 SI 80, S2.40
—SEAT SALE SOW —
| SUBSCRIBE NOW! f
NATIONAL SYMPHONY
HANS KINDLER, Conductor
8 WEDNESDAY EVENINGS
(All-Subscription)
Crooks, Potri, Francescatti, Jepsen,
Elman, Barilatt A Robertson, Brai
lowsky, All-Tchaikovsky Program.
10 SUNDAY AFTERNOONS
Molcbior, Mooro, Milstoin, Traubol,
Zimbalist, Grainger, Nash, K a poll, AH
Wagnor Program.
LGala Opening, Wednesday, Nov. S I
8:30 T. M . CONSTITI TIOX HALL I
Soloist, RICHARD CROOKS, Tonor |
All Concerts in Constitution Hall \
HfdnPodAv Seri** (8 Concert*):
»«, $7.20. $9.60. $12. *16.80. $21.«•
Sandar Serie* do Concert*):
8. $9.60. $12. $14 40. $16.80
NATIONAL SYMPHONY BOX OFFICS
HITT'S, 1330 G St.—NAtional 7332
ijl TODAY . . Doors open 10:45
Il'^H AMERICAN ROMANCE”
*1 in Technicolor starring
\vBRIAN DONLEVY«*nn richards A
Dmrs&u*
10:M in.
They’ve Got ^
WASHINGTON '
In An UPROAR!
.'’%!
Fibber takes over the
Capitol ....and TRIES Wj
TO RUN IT! |
H*
ugene PALLETTE
ymond WALBURN
Gordon OLIVER
Barbara HALE
Where and When
Current Theater Attractions
and Time of Showing
National—"Harriet”; 8:30 p.m.
Screen.
Capitol—"Marriage Is a Privat*
Affair”; 10:40 am., 1:30, 4:20, 7:1!
and 9:55 pm. Stage shows: 12:55
3:45, 6:30 and 9:20 p.rn.
Columbia — "An American Ro
mance”: 11:35 a.m., 2:05, 4.30, 6:5!
and 9:20 p.m.
Earle — "Frenchman’s Creek”
11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:20, 7 and 9:40 p.m
Stage shows: 1:15, 3:55, 6:30 anc
9:10 p.m.
Keith’s — “None But the Lonelj
Heart”: 11:50 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 7:1<
and 9 .35 p.m.
Little—“Catherine the Great”; 11
a m., 1:05, 3:15, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:44
p.m.
Metropolitan — "Arsenic and Oh
Lace”; 11:15 a.m., 1:50, 4:25, 7:0!
and 9:40 p.m.
Palace — "Laura”: 11 a.m., 1:05
3:15, 5:25, 7:35 and 9:46 p.m.
Pix—"Diamond Empire”; 2, 4:4C
7:30 and 10:15 pm.
Trans-Lux — News and shorts
continuous from 10 a.m.
AMUSEMENTS.
3 Performancet Onlyt
Nov. II (I p.a. 8 l:M p. m.i N»y,
II (lilt pja.)—«M»tH«tl»» Hall
xmitoR
RUSSIAN
BALLET
i'&ttttf'TheaCte
the NattMAl SyMpbMy
MATS MOW: |1.||. fl.M. 92 41. $3.
MfttlcMl iHMkwr Bex Office. KITTS,
133ft C St. Me taut— rwrnUMM m
ce»4c4. After • p. m., WffUrft Retd.
MA. 1971.
_AMUSEMENTS._
Hotel Statler 8:30 Wed. Ere . Nor. 18
LILE HARRIS Freeente
NOTA
CAMBEROS
GREEK SOPRANO
Seale SI 30 and $3.40. Tax tnelnded
TALBERT Tiehet Axenry, Willard Hotel,
Phone NA. HK1H
■i
AMUSEMENTS.
I
S
I
I
i
,;
»;
LOEW'S DAI APE TODAY
F at 13th | ff £ La*t Feature 9:45
LOOKS DEMURE
BUT OH, WHAT ALLURE ...
THIS UNUSUAL WIFE
HAS TWO MEN IN HER LIFE!
— _____ I
m»B *"?' ,“««m
hiUUE SW»» * "L ^^^B
MERER! ROBtf! iBflBi
i kMIRO Enidu^'*® f
M-G-M presents the Lana you’re V BOBER! L H.„* e«a I
looking for... the Lana you’ll XZZ**"' SiTiJtSS' I
love ... in a thrilling, heart-to- rtS2T° \/Bk
heart romance! s. ^
Oft <3^e Qsc 'Pebo&ft
DICfe PATSY
BUCKLEY GARRETT
“Accent On Comedy” “Radio’s Newest
,_ Singing Comedienne”
The APPLETONS .„T
“Dance Apache” AKl
BROWN
LYNN ALLISON o MILT “WOL’C »i«.
SAM JACK KAUFMAN and Shine SaJr J
C ^ F ** L boors m
| |i*«
r\ y A