Word: guardsman
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Guardsman" is the Ferene Molnar play in which the Lamis made their first hit in 1924. It is set in pre-World War 1 Vienna and concerns a celebrated acting couple who find that their love has grown cold after six months of married life. The husband decides to impersonate a Russian guardsman and woo his wife in disguise. To his consternation, he finds he is successful. Of such sophisticated nonsense is "The Guardsman" made...
Though I have never seen the Lamats in this play, I'm afraid I was occasionally haunted on opening night by their specters. Miss Farrand and Mr. Fletcher are polished and talented actors and need no apologies made for their performances--still, it occurred to me that "The Guardsman" is one of those plays which very much needs the kind of 'grandness' that the Lunts always bring to their parts. Without that quality, "The Guardsman" is just another pleasantly amusing comedy of the Continental genre, designed to flatter one with its naughtiness rather than honestly exhilarate as comdedy should...
Aside from the plot situation, "The Guardsman" has very little wit, though the Brattle Players frequently make it seem so. With them for this show as a guest actress, is Viola Roache, who gives a sturdily humorous performance as the quasi-"Mama" to Miss Farrand. Other highlights of the evening are contributed by Jeanne Tufts as a theater usher, and by Eleanor MacLean as Liesl, the maid. Miss MacLean's name has been on the Brattle programs before, but always in the capacity of wardrobe mistress. If this is a promotion, it is certainly a just one, for her maid...
...find no fault with the acting of Mr. Fletcher and Miss Farrand--except to stupidly point out that they are not the Lunts, a sad shortcoming they must share with all other actors. Of the two I would say that Mr. Fletcher gives the better show, and that his guardsman is preferable to his husband...
...Brattle Theater Company has in the past devoted its efforts to the ancient and modern classics, and perhaps one could say that "The Guardsman" is a classic of that kind, though of a far different cut of cloth. The fiber is weak but the pattern is bright, and the present wearers have given it a remarkable sheen...