CINEMA
“Teresa." (Empire.)--“Tom Brown's Schooldays." (Gaumont.) ---“Circle of Danger." (Odeon, Marble Arch.)
THE story of Teresa is not a particularly original one, dealing as it does with war, love and rehabilitation, but it has been directed so magnificently by Mr. Fred Zinnemann, and it is acted with such exquisite feeling by Miss Pier Angeli and Mr. John Ericson, that it seems as fresh as dew, as new as morning. Both the Italian and the American scenes bear the triumphant badge of authenticity, and Mr. Zinnemann has not only approached his subjects with a realistic eye but with an eat meticulously tuned to life's myriad sounds, so that all the moments in this tale of a soldier and his Italian bride are filled with the vivid background-music made by birds, guns, motor bicycles, voices in the distance, obscure hammerings and the like—which is extremely effective. Patterned on the forthright unglamorous type of Continental picture, Teresa is, to my mind. one of the best films America has sent us for a long time, and I only wish I had space to deal with it at greater length. As I have never read Tom Brown's Schooldays, my first reaction on seeing the film was to wish that the lengthy sequences devoted to bullying could have been employed in exploring and clarifying Doctor Arnold's character. Mr. Robert Newton gives a sufficiently sympathetic study of the Doctor to make one want to learn more of him, for to the uninitiated his rcforms, though frequently mentioned in general, are never specifically defined and seem, surely erroneously, to be based on luck—the luck of finding a brave pupil willing to fight oppression. That Doctor Arnold is more interesting a human being than Tom, and yet plays a subsidiary part in the film, is an anomaly to which one must be resigned ; and with a mixed bag of boys—headed by John Howard Davies—a number of pleasant views of Rugby, a brief but also pleasant view of Miss Diana WYT1- yard, Mr. Newton's melodious voice, Mr. Richard Addinseli, s felicitous music and a rich slice of sadism one does not do so badly.
Circle of Danger is concerned with Mr. Ray Milland's efforts to clear up the mystery of his brother's death on active service ; an American brother serving with a British Commando in a raid on Brittany with two Scots, a Welshman, a Cockney and a spiv in tow. Too fast does Mr. Milland race from contact to contact, and yet perhaps not fast enough, for in spite of the labours
of Messrs. Marius Goring, Hugh Sinclair and Naunton Wayne, not to mention Miss Patricia Roc who, at any rate, is original enough to be a heroine with hay fever, one is glad to see the last of this
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