The New Pictures

Polly of the Circus (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) is a product of that school of cinematic thought which believes that all ministers of the gospel should be wholesome, naive souls whose love is pure, and that all low-born theatrical folk promptly speak correct English as soon as they take to reading the Bible and consorting with the proper people. The picture might have been interesting because it brought together for the first time Marion Davies and Clark Gable (with the latter's name in larger type in all press advertisements except in Hearstpapers). But the combination contributes nothing to Miss Davies' reputation as a comedienne, nor to Mr. Gable's conquests as No. 1 U. S. cinema lover. Polly (Miss Davies), a pert, saucy trapeze artist, is badly hurt during her act and taken to the nearby house of a young bachelor rector (Mr. Gable) who shelters her during her two-month recuperation. Mutual love develops. Mr. Gable's parishioners hold their tongues until it is discovered that Miss Davies was seen spending some time in Mr. Gable's bedroom. He loses his church, but gains Miss Davies as a bride. From there on matters proceed according to pattern. Warned by his indignant uncle-bishop, other parishes turn Mr. Gable down; he pines for a fold; Miss Davies weeps, decides there is but one way out, returns to the circus bent on suicide. The well-timed arrival of husband & uncle brings reunion and a preposterous picture to a close. Typical shot: Miss Davies getting up to take her first steps after her prostration, pushing a heavy wheel chair across the lawn. The Expert (Warner Brothers). Cinemaddicts will doubtless be deluded, by the title of this picture and the fact that Chic Sale acts in it, into supposing that it has some connection with The Specialist, a highly successful monolog on outhouses which Mr. Sale wrote and performed in vaudeville. Though the title is a delusion, it is not likely to function as a snare. Cinemaddicts who enjoyed The Specialist will be disappointed to find that The Expert is harmless in a different way. It is about a dithering patriarch, his son and daughter-in-law, and a neighboring waif (Dickie Moore)--a profligate adaptation of Edna Ferber's story Old Man Minick. The chronicle of a quavering gaffer who never really enjoyed himself until he got to the Old Men's Home where he could play checkers with his cronies, had possibilities for the cinema which have been firmly overlooked. Minick (Sale) is a pigeonhole grandpa and the picture, mainly composed of watery pathos, has only one genuine sequence--when Sale upsets a club-meeting at his daughter-in-law's house by delivering homilies on the care and upbringing of small children.

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