The New Pictures

On Borrowed Time (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), borrowed from the 1938 Broadway hit, is a rose-colored peek at the bourn Hollywood visited in Death Takes a Holiday. As gently as a mortician, but allowing itself an occasional smile, it presents Death as a softspoken, courteous gentleman ("Mr. Brink") equipped with an impeccable British accent. Its story is what might happen if an old man, tenacious of life, could get this urbane Grim Reaper trapped up an apple tree.

Mr. Brink (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) exercises his literally fatal charm on old Gramps' son and wife, but the old man (Lionel Barrymore) proves a tougher customer. Gramps puts Mr. Brink up a tree until he can figure out a way to keep his chubby-legged little grandson, Pud, out of the clutches of grasping Aunt Demetria. Pud is safe from Aunt Demetria when Mr. Brink climbs down.

Though 61-year-old Lionel Barrymore makes expert use of his wheel chair, a prop dear to a character actor as sword & cloak to a romantic hero, in scene-stealing honors 8-year-old Bobs Watson comes off best. Youngest son of an oldtime actor who has four other children in the movies Cinemactor Watson has appeared in 29 pictures, now earns about $800 a week He got the role of Pud after its Broadway incumbent, 8-year-old Peter Holden, was judged too mature for the part. Swamped by autograph seekers at the preview of On Borrowed Time, he grandly observed: At times like these I sometimes wish I wasn't in pictures. But really I like them and don't feel that way when I realize how much happiness they bring to everyone."

Career (RKO Radio) launches those of Alice Eden and John Archer, victors in a nationwide radio contest for new talent conducted by oldtime Producer Jesse Lasky on his Gateway to Hollywood radio hour. To the call for "young men not less than five feet nine inches tall with physical characteristics similar to those of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, etc." and for similar feminine paragons, Gateway to Hollywood got 40,000 applicants, 8,000 of whom were auditioned in 23 U. S. cities. "John Archer" is Ralph Bowman of Lincoln, Neb., 24, in looks a genteel replica of Max Baer. "Alice Eden" is Rowena Cook, 20, of New York City. Both winners received long-term contracts.

Unfortunately for Alice Eden and John Archer, who acquit themselves well in it, the story of Career suggests that a Gateway to Hollywood contest for screenwriters might also be a good idea.

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