FilmIndia (1940)

He Is Not To Be Found Even In Hollywood AMERICAN Esqr., MOVIE HERO He is tall, of course, as he comes striding along in a long shot with confident, measured steps. Immaculately dressed, well-groomed, with a glossy finish on his hair, he approaches us with the characteristic broad smile of the close-ups — i-. smile glorified by tooth-paste advertisements. With a smooth "that school-girl complexion", he is usually clean shaven though sometimes he delights feminine hearts by sporting a moustache which once used to be broad and thick but is now just a pencilled outline like the latest style in women's eyebrows. A few words about his clothes. Obviously tailored at the best, establishments with all the razor-edge creases in their proper places, he wears them with charming, if studied, carelessness. Never does he seem to pay the least attention to them. He goes through the worst scrapes, fights gangsters in the cause of Law and Order, or an evillooking villain in cause of Love, has terrible motor accidents and is often left dangling from a perilous precipice. But always he comes out with his smile in tact and his clothes as neat and clean as if he had just walked out of a tailor's shop window. "Clothes make the man" and, in this case, their uncanny immunity from wear and tear is but symbolic of the indestructible quality of our hero's character. EVERY GIRL HE MEETS That he is a man of sterling virtues goes without saying. He is the soul of honour and breathes the spirit of chivalry. He is Saint George to every dragon, particularly if there is a "woman in the case." His motives are unquestionably altruistic, of course, though you cannot blame him if he invariably ends by leading the girl to the altar and living "happily ever after." One has, on the other hand, to acknowledge his fine aesthetic taste. Every girl he om.ounters is a paragon of By: K. Ahmad Abbas beauty and embodiment of sexappeal. There was a king in ancient days who turned into gold whatever he touched. Our hero turns every girl he sets eyes upon into a Beauty Queen. Like a connoisseur of feminine charm which he is, he picks it up in the most unexpected places — in garrets and slums, cafes and shops, railway carriages and ocean liners. There have been cases when Mr. Kikubhai V. Desai the enterprising business manager of Paramount Film Co. he has discovered a beauty even among the debutantes at a Society ball. He has a way with women, this hero of ours. It is gift from the gods. As some are born with silver spoons in their mouths, he came in this world with the taste of lipstick on his lips. He is irresistable to women. LOVE-MAKING AS AN ART To lend a greater thrill to the chase some of them may parry with him a little. If they begin by telling him off or even slapping nis face for his impudence it is all right with him, for he likes spirited females. Ultimately they all end— in his arms! To him, romance and the conquest of women are an end in themselves. Love-making is more than a career. It is art, it is life. And like a skilful artist, he has developed a technique that is infallible. The Romeos and Don Juans of history couldn't teach him a thing. He is the world's champion kisser and after every-record-breaking kiss that he plants on the lips of his (1'or the time being) beloved, you can see that gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, that profound sense of having done a pretty work of art which great artists are said to experience on completing a masterpiece. For, above all else, he is an artist. He is a devotee of his Art, to the exclusion of all else in life— politics economics, social phenomenon. Like all great artists he is unmoved by the catastrophes and worries of life. There may be an earthquake or a financial crisis, unemployment figures may rise high or the world be thrown into the vortex of a homicidal war, but he remains aloof and unruffled, the supreme artist, with a hermit-like repugnance for life and its realities. But there is one vital difference between him and the seedy, semi-starved painters, sculptors and musicians who claim to represent the other branches of Art. He is never troubled by economic want. Without any apparent means of livelihood he manages to lead a life of comfort, even luxury. Expensive clothes, streamlined limousines, money enough to entertain his girl friends at the most exclusive night spots (where he must be a frequent visitor as he knows all the head-waiters by their first names), everything he needs magically appears from nowhere. Sometimes he has a job. He may be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer though 61