GUIDE TO GOOD READING

COMPLETE CONTRAST TO HOLLYWOOD

British scientist gives Chaplin‘s new picture, Limelight
her impressions of USSR carries message of fellowship

DR. §. 1M. MANTON begins her
A Scientits’s Impressions, -with
these words:

“One summer morning out
of the blue, came a letter ask-
ing me if I would like to go to
the USSR to meet scientific col-
leagues. I belong to no polici-
eal organisation or friendship
Society, and a more unexpected
Suggestion could hardly have
been proposed to me.”

There can be no higher praise
Of her book than to say it con-
_tinues the work.of the Dean of
_ Canterbury’s Socialist Sixth of
_ the World.

“Our impressions of condi-
tions and peoples within the
Soviet Union are so very differ-
ent from what is suggested by
the many uneasy relationships,
full of friction, which seem to
exist on the borders of the
USSR today that an attempt
has been made to record every-
thing of note which I saw and

heard.”

_ And she stresses that her ‘“‘op-
Portunities for observation «were
sreat, far greater than I have
Personally experienced in any
‘Other foreign country.”

_ The book conveys this above

all: that the Soviet Union is a
Country of vast schemes of peace-
ful construction desiring nothing
better than peace in which to
Continue her transformation both
Of nature and living standards.

The author speaks of the

“abundance of food and absence
of rationing’; of the steady rise

_ Mreal incomes; of rents that are
Usually “3 percent to 7 percent
of the wages of the chief wage
€arner in the household (other
Wage earners are not included)
8Nd this may cover heat, light,

Water, gas and radio in flats. In-
Come tax is low...”

And as we read, we inevitably
look at our own country and our-
Selves. Our great resources
-Sduandered on war preparations,
‘Teductions in housing and cap-
‘tal investment, continuous at-
_ lacks on the standard of life and
 S0¢cial services,

Turn to Dr, Manton’s chapter
pas ‘Families, Homes and Holi-
days,

“A woman in any employ-
Ment or profession, or one who
refers to lead a purely domes-
lic life, has no financial anx-
leties if she desires to rear
Many children. The income in
- Money will always be sufficient
for her needs, and all the chil-
ren she can produce. will have
jueauate opportunities of grow-
Qg’up in happy and pleasant

_ SUrroundings.”

There are many sayings as to

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what is the index of a Ccivilisa-
tion, but surely the most funda-
mental is its attitude to children.
* * *
TWO OF THE most exciting
chapters are those on Tashkent
and. on the great construction
projects.
Looking at the colonies of the
imperialist powers we see bar
barous war in Malaya and Viet
Nam, and everywhere fierce ex-
ploitation and repression. Tash-
kent, in Central Asia, was once
such a Tsarist colony. Today it
is part of the fraternal associa-
tion of Soviet. peoples. Ap-
proaching Tashkent by plane—-
“Suddenly the sparkling
channels and the green crops
and trees of the Tashkent oasis
were below us. . The silver
streaks of glittering water in
the, ploughed furrows between
rows of cotton plants converted
the barren desert into a scene
of joyous and inviting activity.

. Those of us who had ex-
pected to see camels, mosques
and bazaars were both disap-
pointed and amazed, Fine wide

streets and open squares, impos |

ing administrative buildings,
airy blocks of modern flats in
an eastern style.”

At the opening of her chapter
on “The Great Construction Pro-
jects,’’ she writes:

“In spite of the destruction
of two-thirds of the fruits of
the Five-Year Plans by war,
and the rebuilding necessary on
that account, construction pro-
jects are now under way on a
scale not hitherto attempted in
any part of the world, and
which are directed towards a
peaceful development of the

“USSR.”

These projects are intended to
irrigate an area equal to one-
third of the world’s irrigated
land within the next five to seven
years, cropping enough food for
a hundred million persons. Yet
stemming from the United States
we have the dreary neo-Malthus-
jan talk that there are too many
people for the world to ‘feed.

Dr. Manton’s book answers the
hundred and one lies about the
Soviet Union endlessly repeated
in the daily press. Though, as
she says, ‘‘a member of no politi-
cal organisation,’ honest report-
ing hag led her to the same con-
clusion as the Webbs—that what
exists in the Soviet Union is a
new civilisation, and it is nonah
ism. :
The Soviet Union Today: A
Scientist’s Impressions (obtain-
‘able here at the People’s Coop-
erative Bookstore, 337 West
Pender Street, price $1 for the
paper cover and $2 for the hard
cover edition) is a valuable con-
tribution to peace and friend-
ship with the Soviet Union.

Te
it
HEL
a

The LONG and

/the SHORT of it is. -.
HUB has ‘sold

orn ————=0 090 M0

Vancouver, B.C.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

FIRST B.C. TOUR

CHARLIE CHAPLIN, the
world’s greatest little man, has
brought to the screen, at a time
when it is most needed, a mes-
sage of hope and human fellow-
ship for the little men of the
world.

- His long-awaited new film,
Limelight, which opened in Lon-
don last week, is a masterpiece
—the full, triumphant unfolding
of Chaplin’s, genius as an all-
round artist with his roots deep
in the life or ordinary people.

Moving easily from broad
humer to an unembarrassed
pathos, -the film carries a pas-
sionate affirmation of the beauty
of life and its triumph over
death. >

The story took Chaplin two
and a half years to write. Set
in the London of 1917 it is a
simple parable of a failing music
hall comedian, Calvero, who

UJPO Folk Singers win
acclaim in three cities

THOSE BRITISH Columbia
cities which had the good fort-
une to be on the itinerary of the
(United Jewish People’s Order
Folk Singers will long remember
the visit of this talented group
as an event both unique and in-

_spiring.

Under the direction of Feigel

Gartner, piano accompanist and
director, the song recital given
by the UJPO Folk Singers to a
capacity audience in the Hast-
ings Auditorium on Tuesday this
week won enthusiastic response.
The recital was held under aus-
pices of New Frontiers, national
quarterly magazine.
’ As a chorus, or in solo rendi-
tions of the folk songs of all
lands, the UJPO Folk Singers
have set a very high standard of
interpretative song. Negro spirit-
uals, the sad and _ beautiful
songs of a war-torn Korea, the
rollicking chansons of French
Canada, the song of a lovesick
lass for her Cossack sweetheart,
the sweetheart tribulations of a
Jewish lad and lass, sung by
Claire Klein and Jerry Gray—all
were rendered with a realism
which makes the culture of the
common people a living thing.

The Irish rebel song, ‘Johnny
I Hardly Knew You,” sung by
Joan Orenstein is the cry of Irish
women for their menfolks, bru-
talized and broken by war. The
way Joan \Orenstein sings it, it
could be the cry of every woman
for peace. The UJPO Folk Sing-
ers rendition of the song of the

~ British workers for peace and a

similar song of the Bulgarian
workers conveys to any respons-
ive audience the sense of tre-
mendous strength.

In the Folk Singers extensive

repertory is a song, new to many
Canadians, which highlights the
great achievement of this talent-
ed group in restoring to Cana-
dians the cultural inspiration of
those who shaped the democratic
traditions of Canada—the song
of Louis: Riel. In the rendition
of this song Louis Riel does live
again in the hearts of all who
hear the UJPO Folk Singers.
Similarly with Joe Wallace’s
“Oh, Lovely ,Land,” a song of
Canada by a Canadian working
class poet, portraying a Canada
freed from the ravages of ex-
ploitation,

The repertoire of the UJPO
Folk Singers is boundless in
scope, expressing in many lang-
uages the sorrows, joys and
hopes of.the people. Its successes
are due in great part to the
-ability of its director, Feigel
Gartner, to nourish the talents
of her splendid group of artists
with love of the people. The
UJPO Folk Singers not only
sing, but live in their songs.

During the intermission, Hal
Griffin, associate editor of New
Frontiers, spoke briefly on the
purpose and objectives of the
quarterly, appealing for more
contributions and urging wider
financial support to enable the
magazine to play its full role as
a medium of expression for Can-
adian writers and artists.

In addition to their two major
appearances in Vancouver, the
Folk Singers gave recitals at
Nanaimo and Victoria,

—TOM McEWEN.

Capsule
Reviews

THE QUIET MAN

A try at comedy built around
prizefighter (John Wayne) who
returns to Ireland after winning
fortune in the U.S. Espouses
male superiority, misrepresents
Irish peasant life.

MIRACLE OF OUR LADY
OF FATIMA

Use of a Catholic legend to
‘attack historic democratic move-
ments and propagate the lie that
communism menaces civilization
and peace. :

THE BIG SKY
,Not too accurate screen version

' of A. B. Guthrie’s topflight nov-

el about Mountain Men marred
by chauvinistic ‘‘comic’’ charac-

terization of- the Indian called

“Poor Devil.”

DREAMBOAT

Basically funny idea—college
professor whose career is threat-
ened by revival of old movies
in which he starred—is flatten-
ed, into dreary film. Elsa Lan-
chester provides only humor.

saves a young dancer from sui-
cide,

To give her the will to live
he communicates a faith and op-
timism and a determination to
fight for happiness which have
long been replaced by drink in
his Own case.

His faith and kindness suc-
ceed in restoring the girl’s will
to live. She becomes the star
dancer°at the old Empire Music
Hall,

But Calvero cannot overcome
his own failure. He breaks
away from the gratitude and

‘love of the dancer and becomes

a drunken busker.

He is rescued by the girl to
whom he gave faith in life. With
the love of life he has given her
she wins a comeback for the
once great Calver6é at the Em-
pire. She arranges a claque to
ensure that he shall not fail as
he has in the past.

But her love and youth have
instilled in him a confidence
which restores hisi former great-
ness and makes the claque un-
necessary. His success is tre-
mendous.

The triumph turns to tragedy
when a fall at the end of his
comeback performance brings
on a heart attack. ‘But he con-
quers death. \

For as he dies, in the wings
of the theatre, he sees the young
girl to whom he has passed on
the spark of life dancing her
way to success and happiness,
sustained by the faith he gave
her. He knows that what is
best in him lives on in her.

* * *

THIS THEME of helping a
young girl to success, Chaplin
has carried into real life. For
the film makes a star of Claire
Bloom, ,.the young English act-
ress he picked for the part of
the dancer.

In a supremely difficult role,
in which she has continually to
share the screen with a master
artist, Miss Bloom gives a fault-
less performance.

Her youth and freshness are
a complete break with the syn-
thetic Hollywood film star type.
But her success is due as much
to intelligence as to charm.

~ In making the film Chaplin
has surrounded himself with
friends and familiar faces, His
grown-up sons Sydney and
Charles, Jr., have parts.

His young children make brief
appearances, and his old part-
ner Buster Keaton shares an
hilarious music-hall sketch with
him. None of them let him
down, ;

Intensely individualistic
Chaplin produced, directed,
wrote the story and composed
the music—the film is a com-
plete contrast to the usual Holly-
‘wood product.

Where Hollywood. hurries,
Chaplin takes his time—dawdles
when he feels like it.

Where Hollywood is mechan-
ically to the point, Chaplin de-
lights with diffuseness and em-
broidery. Where Hollywood
fears sentiment it cannot carry
off, Chaplin does not hesitate to

~ speak direct to the heart. Never

once does he fall into mawkish-
ness. :
Yet, individualistic as it is,
Limetight has a universal appeal
the Hollywood film can never -
have.—THOMAS SPENCER.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 24, 1952 — PAGE 13