too smooth, and all the characters are disgusting. A boy, asked to describe the manners and customs cf some tribe rs.• other, wrote " Manners none and customs beastly." That goes for the people in The Thin Man. However clever the detective story, insobriety is not attractive.
ON the other hand. everybody in The Old Man of the Sea was rich in charm. It is, of course, a W. W. Jacobs story, which Is all the enlightened need t ) know—except that production (by Lance Sieveking) and acting were not unworthy of the original. The only thing wrong with it was that an afternoon performance limits the audience.
The new serial, News of Paul Temple, is also good escape value, and looks like repeating the success of its predecessor. There's the same signature tune and the
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