Word: charlatans
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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From exile-in France, then England, finally the U.S.-Carlo Sforza crusaded against Benito Mussolini ("a demagogue, a charlatan, a cheap egocentric, a quisling of Hitler") and Fascismo ("an artificial and corrupt house of cards which will fall some day in a few hours"). A patient, humane man, with historical perspective, he believed that his nation had strayed into its most tragic hour, but that in good time the countrymen of Dante and Galileo, Michelangelo and Mazzini, Verdi and Ferrero, would come out all right. "They are grand, they are grand!" he said as the little people of Italy turned...
...Fortunately Conrad Nagel provides the necessary suavity and elegance along with enough warmth and kindness as Jason to overcome the essential priggishness of the character. William Mendrek, though, as the passionate humanitarian, Mike Ambler, carries the first two acts. His crisp and colorful performance of the half-genius, half-charlatan, stands fair to steal the show until Mr. Nagel gets his chance in the third act, where he manages the review-dictating scene with intelligence and fine technique. But Louise Kanasireff, as Lisa, fails to rise to the level of the men; the wife is a badly realibed character...
There are two possibilities about Powys. One is that he is just as innocent and headlong as he seems. The other is that, like Ted Lewis or the latter-day John Barrymore, he is a master of ham-for-the-hell-of-it, a talented and laughing charlatan who gives the people super-portions of what they seem to want. In either case, he makes his audience uncomfortable, but he holds them...
...River (Paramount) brings back the heterogeneous talents of Funnyman Oscar Levant to the big-time cinema after an eleven-year pause. Fresh from successful sallies into literature (A Smattering of Ignorance) and radio (In formation, Please), Levant revives his movie career as the surly, acidulous secretary of a charlatan song writer (Basil Rathbone). This gives him a chance to rattle off some facile trills on conveniently placed pianos, berate the musical ignorance of the surrounding characters, growl an occasional wry witticism through his cavernous, smoke-filled mouth...
...radio helps the charlatan to reach his dupes and to control them. It should help still more in releasing people from their natural dupehood...