The Crimson Playgoer

Despite the modern trend away from acting to clothes horse and show girl, three real actors plus a worthwhile play make an unbeatable combination of M. G. M.'s production of the "Barrett's of Wimpole Street." The three stars are all winners of the greatest honor in motion pictures--the Annual Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences--and the stage play had a three year run. Frederick March and Norma Shearer, who played together in "Smilin Through," are the lovers Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. Miss Shearer's emotional depths build up the play considerably and march carries out his part to perfection, although it seems as though the real Browning was not as blustering as the play would have him. Charles Laughton, as Elizabeth's domineering papa, and, incidentally, the villain of this interesting-because-true plot, succeeds in making one hate him thoroughly because of his superb handling of a part calling for alternate restraint and outbursts of temper.

Beautifully staged and costumed, it equals, if not surpasses the stage production. It's worth the trouble to find the theatre.