The Crimson Playgoer

Janet Gaynor, the fairy tale princess of the movies, is the star attraction of the week's show at the Metropolitan, appearing in a romance of the old South, "Carolina." Lionel Barrymore, one of the biggest finds in the talkies since the depression, is the co-star and Robert Young is the gentleman who brings the story modern.

On the stage the Met presents the occasionally hilarious Roy Atwell, word contortionist. The Three X Sisters also step from their homes in Radioland to do an entertaining routine.

"Carolina" is the story of Will Connelly, scion of a decaying Southern family who strays from the old manse occasionally for an interlude with the daughter of a somewhat socially backward neighbor. Janet, for it is she, displays a combination of charming romanticism and business acumen common to the movies but strangely rare in real life. But do these virtues win her a place in the heart of Will Connelly's mother? They do not. The mother would rather see Will married off to an heiress. Nevertheless, the match is accomplished and Janet and Will add to their romantic success a financial coup d'etat in the tobacco business.

Janet Gaynor, while she has survived with fair success from the silent films, where she made her greatest success, is a victim of the decline in pantomime. Pretty, sentimental, and equipped with an expressive set of gestures, her voice remains the weakest part of her repertoire of talents. Consequently she suffers from the inertia of motion picture directors who go the path of least resistance, rely largely on dialogue and consistently fail to develop the vast scope of the camera. The result is a decline in pictorial beauty, dramatic sweep, and imaginative appeal. "Carolina" is more of a step towards pictorial technique than most of the shows today but the undeveloped possibilities of changing scene, mass action, and human emotion undisturbed by nasal utterances are still great.