"Lady of the Boulevards." At the Tivoli
THIS adaptation of Zola's Nana is mainly intended to intro- duce Miss Anna Sten, who was trained in Russia, acted in Germany with Jannings, and went to Hollywood at the invitation of Mr. Samuel Goldwyn nearly two years ago. Since then she has been learning English, while Mr. Goldwyn and his assistants have pondered earnestly over her future, evidently believing that she will one day break box-office records.
This may happen, for Miss Sten has a fresh and vivid per- sonality and a fund of natural emotion ; but it is difficult to understand why Nana was chosen for her first American appearance. In order to present her in a sympathetic light, the story has been ruthlessly bowdlerized, and she is required to portray an incredible blend of innocence and sophistication. She is supposed to be romantically in love with a young lieutenant, but she nevertheless accepts the protection of his elder brother, and eventually shoots herself with an ivory- handled revolver.
The period details are unusually well done, but the con- tinuity is often jerky, probably because cuts have been intro- duced to make room for the photographing of Miss Sten from every possible angle. Perhaps she will have a better chance in her next picture—a version of Tolstoy's Resurrection, to be directed by Rouben Mamoulian.
GENERALLY RELEASED NEXT WEER.
One Man's Journey.—Lionel Barrymore as a self-sacrificing country doctor: Effective narrative passages, with promising idea suggested by implied comparison between human bedside methods and laboratory science ; but development weakened by sentimental exaggeration:
CHARLES DAVY.
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