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and sublime fading shot. But the showman tricks of Mamoulian and the base falseness of the environment conspire against her. Before it is too late, before the synthetic background against which she moves makes final reckoning, may she, like this old-time Queen of Sweden, set her back to the call of glamour and give herself just once into the hands of a mind which may try to understand her, so that such a film above all others may be preserved for posterity. That this imagined picture will find its shape in Europe I have no doubt, because it is against the whole American conception that Garbo battles.
Paul Rotha.
CATHERINE THE GREAT
Production: London Films. Supervision: Alexander Korda. Direction: Paul Czinner. Scenario: Lajos Biro and Arthur Wimperis. Photography: Georges Perinal. Settings: Vincent Korda. Costumes: John Armstrong. With Elisabeth Bergner, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Flora Rob son, Gerald du Maurier. Distribution: United Artists. Length: 8650 feet.
Forget your social and historical conscience and you will find the new Korda picture amusing diversion punctuated with moments of drama. It is polished; it is artificial; and it is theatrical in treatment. But if you are tolerantly disposed towards romantic costume pictures, the insignificance of all this pomp and petulance will not arise to disturb your entertainment.
Closer inspection reveals much to praise and not a little to criticise. Let us be pleasant first: about the settings of the film, which in all ways mark such an advance on the customary British setting that I may be too enthusiastic. But these sets depicting the Imperial Palace have a dignity and a regal lavishness quite different from the property-room bazaars which usually do service for movie royal magnificence. And the clothes. Armstrong has excelled in his designing, becoming decorative yet remaining practical (no easy task), notably in the case of young Fairbanks and Flora Robson. True, the court loungers stand about as if at a fancy-dress party, but that is Czinner's and not Armstrong's fault. Perinal also has maintained a pretty focus, weak in patches where the set-ups mean nothing to the content; but perhaps that also is the fault of the director.
I found Elisabeth Bergner curiously disappointing, in some way unable to grasp the drama within the scene and interpret it for us. Despite my admiration for her brilliant ability, I am doubtful if she was cast correctly. The younger Fairbanks, labouring under
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