He

FILMS

_ Two small boys give freshness

é

to story of Nova Scotia settlers

“* IN The Kidnappers two small .

Scots boys “give the movies
-a freshness and charm it hasn’t
, Seen for many a long day.

' One, of them is five-year-old
‘Vincent Winter, son of an Aber-
‘deen seaman. He’s chubby, jolly,
‘self - possessed, ‘and brings a
_ Sparkle of life to the screen.’

' The other is Jon Whiteley, a

grave ten-year-old who scored a
big success when he first appear-
ed in Hunted. ....... :

_ As the two grandchildren of a
stern Scots Canadian settler in
the Nova Scotia of 50 years ago
they are wonderfully natural.

Their serious innocence infects
the whole film, and this story of
the poverty and hardness of 4 set-
tler’s life is told with a rare hon-
esty. ; eee

'. The two boys are orphans sent

to live with their: upright, puri-
tanical grandfather ‘on a pioneer
farmstead where no creature

f e

DRAMA

earns a place unless it is useful
or ultimately edible.

Denied a dog, on the grounds
that you can’t eat it, they find a
baby left for a’ moment by the
child minding it, and this ‘they
keep as a secret pet until they are
discovered.

“A story which could easily have
been mawkish, is handled here
with a tact and feeling which
avoids the pitfalls. ‘Si

This is a satisfying film be-
cause it is content to make simple
points in an unpretentious way.
The old man is made to realise
that rectitude is not enough.
There must be human understand-
ing in the home as well.

And Scottish and Dutch settlers
have to learn to bury the bitter-
ness of the Boer War and live to-
gether as neighbors and fellow
Canadians.

There are no villains in this

picture. There is stubbornness,

stupidity, unthinking cruelty, un-
reason. But each character is
seen acting according to his
lights, and his lights are seen to’
be not wholly without. merit.

It is a measure of the quality
of the acting that the children
by no means steal the picture.
Duncan Macrae, of the Glasgow
Citizens’ Theatre, makes the
cranky, pigheaded grandfather a
powerful figure without overplay-
ing him, and a sympathetic one
despite his obtuseness — a strong
performance.

Jean Anderson gives a real
.depth and understanding to the
part of the old man’s wife. Theo-
wore Bikel and Adrienne Corri
make a refreshingly unbeglamor-
ised pair of lovers.

Philip Leacock has_ directed
without a false note one of the
best pictures of the year.

—THOMAS SPENCER.

Moscow gives great reception

‘IT FOUND myself: looking -up
, advertisements of London suc-
“eesses in search of words to de-
scribe the Moscow public’s re-
sponse to the Comedie Francaise
company, writes ‘Ralph Parker
from the Soviet capital.
~ Of course, the fact that the
Comedie Francaise company was
playing Tartuffe and Le Bourgeois
Gentilhomme, among other plays,
had something to do with it. For
‘“‘Moliere has. been. a favorite on
the Russian stage since the begin-
ning of the 18th century. é
~--It was a happy idea of the di-
rectors of the Comedie Francaise
to acknowledge this by letting
the players bring: with them. Mol-

_ last month were as hard to get as

-iere’s own armchair from the -

theatre museum. It has never
left Paris before.. .
'. At Moscow’s oldest theatre, the
Maly, it was used in a deeply mov-
ing short program entitled “Hom-
age to Moliere.”’ ;
» The enthusiasm of the public
and the many signs of real affec-
“tion that have been manifested
seem to have taken the French
visitors by surprise, Parker says.
“We expected to be met with
‘interest but not with such love,”
‘said a leading member of the
company. “We expected bouquets,

but hardly that they would be

‘made of flowers specially flown

from Caucasia for us.”
part Ss ax

- ay TICKETS FOR the 13 public

Performances. given in Moscow

‘ZENITH CAFE
_ 105 &. Hastings Street
_ Mancouver, B.C.

~ UNION’ HOUSE

- 24-Hour Service
Business: PA. 1532
Night: HA. 8071

Jones’ Market

_ LIMITED J
Boat and Restaurant Supplies

217 Main St. - Vancouver 4, B.C.

PE AREER ENR NENE RENEE NEES

ne es

subscriptions to the magnificent
new History of Russian Art pub-
lished by the Academy of
Sciences. é

After all, there were “only”
some 15,000 tickets for sale, and
“only” 29,000 copies of the His-
tory of Russian Art published.
The level of culture in the Soviet

Union is today such that perform-"

ances of French classical plays in
French draw at least ten persons
for every seat, available.

As a result, the theatres pro-
jecting the televised programs of
the French actors’ performances
were also sold out in advance,
and everybody with a television
set found himself most popular’
on the three days when the en-
tire evening was devoted to the

French plays.

_ to Comedie Francaise company

THE VISIT OF the Comedie
Francaise was the result of So-
viet initiative, Parker adds.

For the past year or two the
USSR has been sending its best
theatrical artists to Paris—Ivan
Petrov was the last, he sang Boris

Godounov and Mephistopheles at -

the Grand Opera—and it was felt
that a reciprocal visit by the
French was called for. .

More especially was this desir-
ed as this month, Ulanova and
Preobrazhensky from the Bolshoi
Theatre and the Leningrad Corps
de Ballet with Dudinskaya and
Sergeyev will dance Romeo and
Juliet, the Flames of Paris, and
one or two other ballets in Paris,
although the French government
has seized on the crisis over In-
dochina to postpone the perform-
ances—_WALTER HOLMES.

-

Dvorak's music rang

THE DESIRE for national in-
dependence has inspired many
artists. But to few has it meant
so much as to the great Czech
‘composer* Antonin Dvorak, the
‘50th anniversary of whose death
was commemorated throughout
the world on May 1. .

(Dvorak is one of the four great —

figures of world culture whose ar-

niversaries -are being celebrated -

this year by the world ‘pcace
movement. The others are Field-
ing, Chekhov and Aristophanes.)

Not only was his wealth of
melody and rhythm drawn from
the rich heritage of his own peo-
ple, but his genius was devoted to
the cause of his country’s free-
dom, : .

If Dvorak led his own musical
generation, he followed the na-
tional tradition which had _ pro-
duced great music over centuries.

But many of his predecessors,
Oppressed by conditions in- their
subjugated country, went into ex-
ile and worked abroad. -’

PUTO MCUCICUC IU IL MG UGC IG EIU hn One who remained to prepare

the ground for Dvorak was Bed-
rich Smetana, described as a gen-
ius who “showed Czech music the
correct path to follow, the sources
to draw upon, the tasks to fulfil
and the forms of expression to
adopt.” ~

Born low on the social scale,
Dvorak established himself by the
, Strength of his own talents and,

at the age of 18, became a pro-

fessional’ viola-player.

When the Czech Theatre was

opened in 1862 he began ten years
Service in the orchestra, where he
came to know Smetana’s operas,
often performed there for the
first time. | ;

Brought up in an atmosphere
of folk music, he now learned how
to create a similar atmosphere in
his own compositions, not by a
slavish borrowing or imitation of
their themes, but by assimilating
their particular qualities, and
transforming his music by the
spirit of the folk tradition.

xt xt $e
THROUGHOUT his life he Was

300th anniversary

In preparation for +

he Soviet i i dedi:
caied te hb BOO cehiee: oviet exhibition of decorative arts.

Russia, A. Kurochka (top),
of Bogdan Khmelniksky,
works are in the museu
clock decorated with a

by G. Vostrov, graduate of

conscious of belongin .
ee ging to a Slay

Remonstrati athe
publisher Went ten |

who’ had: changed the

Czech spelling of his name, he .

said: “. . . But I just wanted

t
tell you that an artist also has his
country for which he must have a
firm faith and an affectionate

heart.”
Later, when his rer ion }
> when | Putation le
a German critic to tempt ae ;

abroad, where cosmopolitani
; ad, v politanis
awaited him, he refused to sie)
from his national position,
Ra I have moveq.” he
nee wrote, “in the great worl
; of music, I shall still remain ae
T have always been, a simple
Czech musician.”
‘This at a time remember
5 or, when
the Austro - Hungarian Empire
denied all Czech national rights,
Chamberlain once cailed Czech-
Oslovakia “a country of which we
know: very little.” Had his culture
been wider, he might have known
of Dvorak’s: triumphant Visits to
Britain half: a century earlier,

' Subjects, employed Czech
_thythms and melodic lines

sary of the reunion of the Ukraine wit
a Lvov fitter, works on a chased portrait
statesman and general. Many of Kurochka®
ms of Moscow, Kiev and Lvov. The ceramic

sculpture of Khmelnitsky (bottom) was made
Odessa art school. .

with faith in country —

He might also have: understood
that Dvorak, being a fervor
Patriot, was also a sound inte?
nationalist. _ a i

His six visits to Britain, his 5t®
in the United States, his cone
in Russia where he earne
friendship of Tchaikovsky, ed
ened his humanity and deepe?
his art. ob

. Cze' ,

If he wrote his operas to dance

most other works, he could a
draw on Negro and Native Indy
themes for his “New W2

Symphony.

| ne
His pupils were many and wa

_ influence is still felt in bis on

country. When he died on ¥ of
1904, he occupied a positio -
unique honor among his ©,

temporaries. Today in 4 7 45 |

Czechoslovakia his work achiev? ‘

its ultimate justification. the.
—THOMAS RUSSEL!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — May 14, 1954 — PAGE ®