Word: charm
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Sort of Simple Charm." The 100-odd newsmen who assembled to meet him in a gloomy Methodist meeting hall in Westminster came ready to perform on him an expert British drawing-and-quartering. But Billy got in the first few thousand words. "I am here," he explained, "because I was invited to come. I am not here for your money . . . I'm not going to preach antiCommunism, anti-socialism or anti-liberalism ... I have come to preach Christ...
...style exemplified by Quo Vadis?. He prefers to draw out indignation, letting the characters condemn themselves by treating infidelity, indelicacy and even brutality as daily steps toward a Good Life whose only end is to escape boredom. Not that decadence is portrayed as innately vile. Rather, its syrupy charm cloys, smothering its cultists' sensibilities until stock motions, reactions and conversations replace emotions...
While its charm is impaired by a bitter denunciation of the sort of social "game" that must be played by rules, The Rules of the Game is still a comedy. Chase scenes and insinuating servants join other well-aged comic props, twisted by the Renoir touch into a clever and enjoyable satire...
...left to singing the whole company is quite superb, with clear diction, much gusto and a pretty sense of how to make funny lines seem just that. Morely shines in the Judge's role (and in his patter song) while Sara-Jane Smith plays the betrothed Angelina with giddy charm. Don Fern, one of the few Trial principals who does not also sing in Pinafore, makes up for an infinitesimal voice by rascally and slick acting as the defendant, Edwin. William Cowperthwaite as the Usher is the only other outstanding actor in the curtain raiser. His strong, clear voice...
Dunlop adjusts to his double life with a blunt, plain spoken charm which can put both students and labor leaders at case. His students talk of his habit of referring to the biggest men in labor and management by their first names. The head of the AF of L is "George," the Secretary of Labor "Jim." At a beer party he threw for his class, one student asked him about the recent resignation of Secretary of Labor Martin Durkin...