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CECIL B. DeMELLE has done it again! With his “The Story of Dr. Wassell,” he has overcome all the usual objections to “war pictures” — or, if not all, at any rate he’s managed to sacrifice none of the drama of a war situation, in making it primarily a story of people rather than events.
Based on the true-to-fact accomplishments of Lt. Com¬ mander (now Commander) Corydon M. Wassell, it gives you the life-story highlights of an Arkansas doctor, repre¬ sentatively American and convincingly so; traces his career through the years of his medical research work in China, and even manages to sketch in his one great romance.
For it’s more than a story, complete within itself. It is heroism, made truly glorious and depicted with a minimum of self-consciousness. While focusing attention on in¬ dividuals — men wounded in Pacific area combat, whole military units caught in the escape trap of fleeing from Burma — there’s sheer drama, stark and effectively real, in any number of bombing scenes, in Dr. Wassell’s refusal to abandon his charges, his desperate determination to “bring ’em out alive,” and the series of desperate situations which arise to defeat and discourage his every attempt.
Gary Cooper’s “Dr. Wassell” is adequate all the way through, and at times transcends being just an excellent living character interpretation. One assumes that Laraine Day, as the pretty young nurse who’s in love with him, is intended to give romantic-interest relief to an emotionally stricken audience, and she does — just that.
THE HAIRY APE
PERTAIN to be the most discussion provoking adaptation « of a play ever to come to the screen, “The Hairy Ape” will either go down in film history as something comparable to any of the best European productions, and thereby start a new trend in Hollywood — or, it will be a remarkable fail¬ ure. Between those predictions, the critic must base his judgment on three quite separate analyses.
First, does it succeed as a story? Presenting Bill Bendix as the coal-stoking sailor of more brawn than brains, and Susan Hayward as the spoiled “rich girl,” it might be con¬ sidered to protest against social class differences. The social-consciousness conclusions, however, aren’t definitely drawn, only suggested. So the picture version of the Eugene U Neill play serves more the purpose of the honest observer than the would-be crusader.
Second, is the photography and striving for effect really as masterful as was intended? The realist might not think so but the artist would applaud the success with which the obvious” is so regularly avoided.
Third, what is the final impression gained as the sumtotal result? Eliminating the John Loder and Dorothy Comingore performances, as being no more than contri¬ butions, one can say it’s an amazing presentation of psycho¬ logical conflict. The Jules Levey variations from the original beauty and the beast theme, as O’Neill created it, make for a more happy ending. They distract nothing, and add a great deal. But it’s “for adults only.”
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