Screenland (Nov 1934-Apr 1935)

Screen land 54 Screenland's Critic Really Sees the Pictures! REVIEWS We Live Again United Artists Most touching picture of the month! You should have heard the women sob when I saw it at the Music Hall at Radio City— maybe you did; at any rate, you heard them sob wherever you caught the drama, and sobs are the same in Rockefeller Center as on Main Street. Anna Sten reverses the usual stellar order of things and becomes actual y better in her second than she was in her first film She is truly magnificent as the long-suffering Tolstoy heroine, the Vital warm earthy farm girl who falls in love with a dashing prince, who rides away-only to meet again later after the prince has become a man of the world and the poor little peasant has touched the depths. Some of the crusading spirit of the great novel ^^JP™«™2 and certainly Mamoulian has directed with fine understanding an J devotion to^etail. Pietorially, "We Live Again "top* even the high Samuel Goldwyn standard. It secures Sten s stardom it reinforces Fredric March's reputation as our most sensitive and versatile actor; and it provides a rich, splendid, and thoroughly Satisfying experience. Anna Sten is that miracle a beauty who is more concerned with characterization than with close-ups. Evelyn Prentice M-G-M SEAL OF! < 2; If you had never met "The Thin Man" you would hail "Evelyn Prentice" as a new, fresh, and exciting event. But don't blame Evelyn if she does not burst upon you as a thrilling novelty. The super-sophistication of .her predecessor took the edge off. The new co-starring vehicle of William Powell and Myrna Loy is excellent entertainment even though it attempts to follow in the footsteps of their first audacious classic. You will enjoy, I believe, the latest adventures of Bill and Myrna— again a modern married couple, again involved in switt and sometimes sinister affairs, and this time augmented by a 1 my Tot who is a throwback to those screen kiddies of yesteryear who always lisped "Papa love Mama?" in time toavert domestic disaster. There's excitement aplenty in "Evelyn Prentice" what with the complications of a lawyer husband too busy to come home to dinner, a philandering poet who has the misfortune to be murdered, and the trial scene— and a good, suspenseful trial scene it is, too, with Miss Loy approaching poignant perfection, Mr. Powell at his brilliant best, and Isabel Jewell as the heart-rending other woman." You'll welcome Una Merkel, gay and sparkling. of the Best Pictures Evensong GaumontBritish Comparison with Grace Moore's picture, One Night of Love," is inevitable, so suppose we get it out of the way riaht now. Like La Moore's triumph, "Evensong is the screen record of the career of a prima donna. Both heroines are beautiful, with lovely voices. Romance rears its head in both dnemas-not once, but often. And just as Grace Moore is th particular pride and joy of these United States, so is Evelyn Lave the pet of England. Now it is up to you to see "Evensong and decide for youLlf just who is really "the queen of song rf vou must' Miss Laye is decidedly a pictorial and vocal treat as Ta^eMcNefl, the Irish girl who becomes /re/a, the great opera singer Leaving youthful love bohind her, she embarks upon her ooeratic career with the aid of Kober, the impresario, who coaches hL to triumph. A handsome Archduke pursues herwrtr; ^ and affection— but there the story takes a new turn. The lovers part and Tela goes on alone, still singing until age and weariness caSh up .With her, and a young rival breaks her heart. The supporting^ is excellent, with outstanding performances by Emlyn Williams, Carl Esmond, and particularly Fritz Kortner. You Can Count on these Criticisms