THE MTCHIGAN DAILY
The Theatre
ANNA CHRISTIE - A CRITICISM
BY PROF. OSCAR J. CAMPBELL
Eugene ('Neill's Anna Christie represents the
dramatist in his most humane mood. In' his latest
works, notably Strange Interlude and Mourning
Becomes Electri, he has often assumed a cruel
and slightly contemptuous attitude toward his
characters and their fates. They are often neu-
rotic, . even pathological, persons whose" deeds,
through usually of absorbing interest, alienate
them from the sympathy of an audience. Such
F characters are slightly distorted representatives
of hUmanity.
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(, JAN. 11, 1933
. ,
e .
AN EDITORIAL in The Daily Iowan,
student newspaper of the Univer-
of Iowa, a few days ago urged immediate
m by the Western Conference eligibility com-
ee in the case of Ivan Blackmer and Edward
These observations are not true of Anna
Christie. The play has in it what O'Neill calls
"sincerity of life," largely because the main char-
acters are drawn from his own experience. The
drama in its earliest form was a character study
of an old Swedish sailor named Chris Chris-
topherson. He had been O'Neill's roommate when
he lived in a"hell-hole along the water-front in
New York, in the saloon, which is the original
of the place presented in the first act of Anna
Christie.O'Neill learned to know every corner
of his nind and every rhythm of his speeches.
Later the central person in the drama became
Chris's daughter '-AnnA, and the plot now deals
with her regeneration under the influence of the
sea' an'd the love of a romantic Irish sailor. The
play is distinguished among his dramas by its
happyending. Critics have found fault with this
on the ground that the author in writing it hais
sacrificed character to theatrical effect. O'Neill
says' he intends this happy ending to. mark not a
period but only a comma in Anna's existence. In
fact, he once thought of calling the play Comnia.
But the audience inevitably takes it as a happy-
ever-after ending and discover in it one of the
few moments of tenderness which O'Neill has ever
shown to his creations.
Por all these reasons, O'Neill has created in
Anna Christie two of the most vivid and appealing
of his characters. They are set against the back-
ground of the sea, which is here presented with
both realistic fidelity and imaginative reach.
Small wonder that the simple story of the prin-
cipal characters develops so inevitably in this
atmosphere of realistic fact and romantic over-
tone that it' has becooe to many critics O'Neill's
most natural and effective play.
-Oscar James Campbell:
Screen Reflection s
Four stars. means extraordinary; three stars very
good; two stars good; one star Just another picture;
no stars keep away from it.'a
AT THE MICHIGAN
wSON-DAUGHTER"
* CHINATOWN DRAMA;
LITTLE STUDENT APPEAL
Lien Wha............Helen Hayes
Tom Lee..... . Ramon Noarro
Fen Shu............Warner Oland
Dr. Dong Tong...... . Lewis Stone
Wha's protectress .. Louise Closse Hale
Sen Li .......... ........ . H. B. Warner
"fori-Daughter" is a story of Chinatown in-
trigue,. with a cast that at first glance seems
weirdly unsuited for their task. The average stu-
dent nmovie-goer will find little appeal in this filh,
opening as it does with a well-known newsreel
shOt of 1932 5mb-Japanese conflict, closing with
a faked shot aboard a liner bound for China, and
seemingly a definite slip in Helen Hayes' assault
an Hollywood's stardom heights, aided so recently
by th'award to her'of the Motion Picture Acad-
emy of Science's "best actress of the year" cup.
Hands in kimono sleeves, the characters mince
about in accepted fashion, letting compendious
snatches of Chinese proverbry drop here and
there. Warner (Charlie Chan) Oland is the only
one who seems in his element here. A faulty mix-
ture of the old and the new of Chinese life in
West-coast America is injected into "Son-Daugh-
ter," as in Helen Hayes' line, "Then the gods must
be very old and very mean," when contrasted with
her medieval fear of and prostration before Ra-
mon Novarro, her prospective groom.
"Son-Daughter," you may or may not agree,
suffers because it tries, at some length, to be
ooth piquant and stilted.
The story concerns the auctioning off of four
roung and beautiful Chinese iaidens for $25,000
xpiece in order to gain $100,000 for use against
he malign Minchu despotism. Warner Oland is
3ast as the grasping man-of-chance who bids for
Lien Wha's hand; Ramon Novarro is the Chinese
Southern California student to whom her heart is
given; Lewis Stone is Wha's overburdened father;
od H. B. 'Warner rounds out the list of prin-
sipals as an ill-fated tong member.
Easily the best scene is the gambler's death by
strangulation on his wedding night. The motive,
_ncidentally, is revenge,
Added attractions: "Babes in the Wood" is a
most refreshing color cartoon and was well re-'
3elved; Paramount News (Rose Tournament, Prof.
Piccard, Dog Teams, Hoover Fishing, Italian
Horsemen, Calvin Coolidge, and U. S. C.-Pitt.); an
entertaining short, sung by Reinald Werrenrath,
is the Glee-Clubbish tour of the Michigan carp-
pus. Several campus satellites were used as "at-
mosphere" in the filming, although individual
identities are not revealed because of the distance
of the shots. President Alexander G. Ruthven's
home, the Library, the Stadium, and other typical
scenes help the Michigan's bill along.
A letter received here recently by William H.
Rodes, '33, Art Cinema League official, from King
Michigan on a subject dealing with the cinematic
arty
I' am quite flattered by an appreciation of my
work that would prompt such a request. However,
it so happens that at this time I am completely
interested in making a picture in which I have
high hopes and: which, must' be produced as
quickly as possible. That is, I am more interested
at the moment in doing a picture than talking
abot them. This is not always the case, and when
this job is finished I may gladly welcome the op-
portunity to talk about what has been done or
may be done, rather than the actual doing of it.
So I can only suggest that I -write you again
when this situation occurs or that you write me
again whenever you feel so inclined.
Thanking you again and hoping that some day
I may be able to enjoy the privilege of meeting
you and the members of your Art Cinema League,
King Vidor
Material relevant to "The Cabinet of Dr. Cali-
gari," to be presented in the Lydia Mendelssohn
Theatre Jan. 18, 19, and 20 will appear in this
column soon.
-G. M. W. Jr.
~e I
CampusOpinion
Letters publihed in this column should not be
construed as expressing the editorial opinion of The
Daily, Anonymous communications will be disregard-
ed. The nimes of communicants will, however, be re-
garde asoconfidential upon request. Contributors are
asked to be brief, confining themselves to less .than
300 words if possible.
MISSION OF THE CHURCH
To The Editor:
In reply to the question, "What is the mission
of the church?" found in the column "Campus
Opinion" of this morning's Daily:
L. If you were to kill one person in anger, or
because you wanted his money, or for some simi-
lar reason, you would deserve to be punished.
If you we'e to kill him in self-defense, or to
protect some helpless person, you would prob-
ably be acclaimed as a hero.
2. When any army sets forth, it is with the
purpose of protecting the helpless inhabitants
of its country. The killing of the enemy is not
wished, but it is an unavoidable consequence of
the act of protection. An act which has two
ends, one good and one bad, occurring unavoid-
ably and at the same time, is still a licit act.
3. Granted that war is an unspeakable evil,
by reason of is unavoidable consequences, why
blame the church for praising one of the few
entirely unselfish impulses of human nature?
A. C. T.
THE HORROR OF IT
To The Editor:
There is 'a little book bearing the title: The
Horror of It, being camera record of war's grue-
some glories. By Frederick A. Barber Brewer,
Warren, and Putnam, New York, 1932).-The
bobk' consists of illustrations, interspersed with
prose and poetry. But what is more striking than
either poetry or prose are the illustrations. The
first picture that meets the reader's eye is a muti-
lated hand severed from the body of a soldier.
That hand lies on a piece of desolate ground near
a stump of a tree. The middle finger of the dead
hand seems to point to something . . .
The well-known lines accompanying the grue-
some picture of the disfigured hand reads as
follows:
"The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on; nor all your Piety or Wit
Shall lureit back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your tears wash out a Word of it."
M, Levi, Professor Emeritus.
& STRIPES
By Karl Seiffert
Says George Bernard Shaw: "Enlightened In-
dians have a great power of speech. Scratch an
Indian and he reels off seventeen volumes of
Herbert Spencer." All we can say is: let that be a
lesson to you, Mr. Shaw.
The fact that the late Ivar Kreuger, Swedish
"match king," was able to appropriate more than
$115,000,000 of investors' funds to his own uses is
laid largely to bad auditing. A really great man
never gets credit for -his ability.
12 CON6RESSMEN
ESCAPE AS HOUSE
ELEVATOR DROPS
-Headline
Horrors-are they still at large?
The consumption of sauerkraut in the United
States is increasing, says a news item. That in
spite of all this agitation in favor of patronizing
domestic, industries.
A Washington correspondent writes of "a roar
of approval" from the public ii response to Rep-
resentative Rainey's statement against increased
taxation. If you ask us, that was just a chorus of
groans from the House budget committee.
BENEFIT PERFORMANCE WILL
AID GUARDIAN ANGEL HOME
-Headline'
Well, if he needs that kind of help its no
wonder that everything ilas gone io blazes.
- Just when the increasing popularity of the
coupe and the roadster seems to have done away
with the back-seat driver, we learn that the tan-
,,
CCLASSES
Ir NOW FORMING
STENOTYPY
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17th Year
SCHOOL OF NURSING
of YALE UNVERSITY
A Profession for
the College Woman
The thirty months' course, providing
an intonsiive and varied experience
through th ease study method,
leads to the degree of
Bachelor of Nursing
Two or more years of approved' col-
lege work required for admission.
Beginning in 1934 a Bachelor's de-
gree willbe required. A few scholar-
ships available for students with
advanced qualifications.
For catalogue and information
address :
The Dean, Yale School of Nursing
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or $2:50 Till June
HAve You Your Ticket for
Anna Christie
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
Tickets 50c
Box Office Open
11 A.M. to :00 P.M.
Phone 6300
If you'want to -n-ail it home
it's only 25c extra
.\
Not quite - but we almost
feel so - for we're offering
for a semester price our
paper
MICUIGAN
DAILY
For the Balance of the
School Year
If you write, we have It #
Correspondence Stationiery,
Poumtaiin Pena, Inzk, etc.
Typ~ewiters a3l1zpalms.
Greeting Curds for bogy,
'. D. MORRI LL
E
a'
----:_..
committee, and inquired if Iowa'were to be
perpetual goat of Conference athletics. Ap
ently the- answer is yes, for Break and Black-
r have been ruled "technically ineligible" and
red from further conference competition.
'he term "technically ineligible," it is explain-
means "absolutely ineligible," the former term
ag used "because it is euphonious," in the
'ds of Prof. Thomas E. French, chairman of
Big Ten's eligibility committee.
3oth Blackmer and Break are victims of a tech-
ality calculated to facilitate action upon cases,
doubtful eligibility. The 'technicality provides
t players who play with teams not members
the Conference, when admission is charged,
11 no longer play with Conference teams.
ether or not the player in question 'has re
ved financial reward, "expense accounts," or'
participated in a shady dealing of any kind
d not enter the question.
t is certainly to be regretted that a basketbali
in with the fine prospects which are Iowa'.
uld be decimated by a provision which cover:
blanket fashion a question that should be
ther explored in order to find' out the true
it in which Blackmer and Break acted. Black-
r was not even a student at Iowa when he
yed on the Cedar Rapids, Ia., basketball team
act which brought about his downfall. He had
y matriculated.-Break was actually in school at
time.
t cannot be denied that Iowa has had More
n its share of athletic black sheep in recent
,rs. Perhaps this has brought the University
o such unfavorable repute .that the recent'in-
tigation has been more searching and more'
ere than the average eligibility inquiry. A defi-
e "inferiority complex" apparently pervades the.
ra campus today; in the words of a metropoli-
i newspaper, they "feel as though they were.
ked on." Iowa's point-of-view is a normal one.
has, in the past, developed some fine athletes;
I probably will continue to do so, in spite of
eligibility hang-nail which seems to make a
ciality of camping in Iowa City. But to have-
istant doubt as to eligibilities, and even as to
advisability of remaining in the Conference, is
ta happy situation.
Editorially the Daily Iowan has' openly approved
ession from the Conference if existing condi-
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