This Mad World

This Mad World
Drawn Out and Heavy

This adaptation of the French war play, "Terre Inhumaine," proves to be an ordinary dramatization of one of those war interludes in which the agents of the intelligence service triumph even though the enemy's firing squad is satisfied at the end. Sharing in this are all the nobler but, alas, less intriguing virtues, such as, self-sacrifice, mother love, duty consciousness and unreasoning patriotism. Having been authored by a Frenchman it is distinctly national in tone; the successful exploits of the servants of that nation being achieved with a simplicity little short of remarkable.

The picture has its entertaining moments, as what story of love and wartime intrigue has not? Unfortunately, these moments are too far separated to contribute a great deal as a whole, but even though it may not be necessary for you to install an additional ticket machine during its run it is safe to say your customers will not demand their money back later.

Basil Rathbone is the ingenious French spy who, impelled by a secret mission and a desire to visit his mother, lands behind the German line in Lorraine and makes his way to the maternal inn. Here he is recognized by the wife of a German general who is on hand to keep a rendezvous with her husband. She is circumvented in attempting to cause his arrest, and here we are asked to believe that love flowers in time to stay the trigger finger of the spy.

No century plant is this love, we learn by intimation in the following morning's scene. Overnight it has come to full bloom, and not even the boasting of the spy about "a little job" he had pulled off in Belgium which, incidentally, cost the life of his new sweetheart's nephew, could wither it. For, even though in her anguish at his confession, she seeks to cause his arrest, she is moved to commit suicide at the thought of having betrayed her lover.

Hearing the suicidal shot, the Germans enter the house to investigate. The spy's mother disclaims knowledge of his identity in order that she may be free to culminate his mission, and the son is led out by the firing squad.

Kay Johnson is the wife of the German general. Louise Dresser is the mother. These two, with Rathbone, carry out about eighty-five per cent of the action alone. You would think that this paucity of principals would help to speed the picture on its way and carry it to a swift and uninterrupted ending. But it doesn't. The picture suffers from lack of action, a result of the director's efforts to adhere closely to the original stage play. In consequence, scenes which are intended to build suspense, not satisfied with achieving it, go on interminably and result in being merely irritating. Some judicious cutting could have moved it to a smoother and more absorbing climax.

—Motion Picture News, April 19, 1930, p. 71

This Mad World

Directed by ...... William De Mille
Featuring ...... Basil Rathbone, Kay Johnson
French play "Terre Inhumaine" by Francois Decurel

An unusually well produced drama of the World War concerning a princess and a soldier in the secret service. A Frenchman goes to his home in Alsace-Lorraine to spend his leave with his mother and finds there a young German princess who has taken up her residence with the French woman. The girl is torn between loyalty to her country and love for a man and the outcome of this story makes a most interesting picture.

For the mature audience.

—National Board of Review, April 1930, p. 20

"This Mad World" with Kay Johnson, soon at Lexington

Which was her greatest passion--her country or her love?

The answer may be found in "This Mad World," coming to Loew's Lexington Theater today and tomorrow with Basil Rathbone and Kay Johnson in the principal roles.

Rathbone, as a French spy, flies across German lines to make his mother's home in Alsace the center of a short espionage adventure. Unfortunately, a few hours previous, a German princess traveling incognito to visit her husband, a general in the German Army, is billeted at this same house on her way to the lines, and she recognizes the spy, regardless of his German uniform, because of his photograph in the farmhouse album.

Realizing that she suspects him, Paul decides to kill her and lures her into the woods, and the climax, charged with electrical intensity comes as an unexpected but entirely logical ending.

—The Daily Star, Brooklyn, New York, July 3, 1930, p. 8

The hero's mother, a French patriot had been forced to give shelter to a German noblewoman (heroine), much to her resentment. The heroine is attracted by a picture of the hero and learns his relationship to the woman in whose home she is staying. The hero, a French spy, is on his way to accomplish a very important matter for France, and even though it means taking a great risk, he stops off to see his mother, whom he had not seen for two years. The hero and the heroine meet. She recognizes him from his photograph and realizing that he is a French spy plans to betray him. She steals out of the house during the night in order to get to the nearest village, but the hero, suspecting her motive, follows her. He corners her and tells her that he must kill her because she has too much information, even though he regrets doing so. She pleads for her life and the hero, who had become very much attracted to her, decides to spare her but to keep her under his watch. When they get back to the house they talk for a while and he learns that she is very unhappily married. They confess their love for each other and for a few hours forget about hatred and war. In the morning, the heroine, remembering her pride and her love for her country, betrays the hero, but takes her own life, confessing to the hero before she dies that she loved him more than her own life. The hero is caught by the Germans and is shot as a spy.

The plot has been taken from a story by Francois de Curel, "Inhuman Ground" and adapted by Clara Beranger. Basil Rathbone is the hero, Kay Johnson, the heroine, Louise Dresser, the mother. The talk is intelligible. (Silent values, good.)

Note: This picture has been shown in this territory for the first time.

—Harrison's Report, July 12, 1930, p. 111

Realizing her danger, and disappointed by her husband's refusal to see her, the princess deliberately intrigues the spy, which provides some dramatic and thrilling situations.

—Talking Screen, April 30, 1930, p. 59

Based on the book, "Terre Inhumaine," and depicting the love between a French spy, masquerading as a German officer, and a married woman of the German nobility. They meet in the home of the boy's mother. The woman feels it her duty to report the spy; and he in turn feels that he should kill her to save himself and carry out his duty to his own country. Most of the footage is taken up with the conflict between these two in the mother's house. They finally confess their love for each other, declaring that war is madness and only love matters, but in the end the woman's sense of duty prevails and she discloses his identity to the enemy, after which she commits suicide just as the spy is led away. Dialogue is excellent and suspense is well maintained despite small amount of action. Basil Rathbone plays the spy with plenty of dash, and good performances are given by Kay Johnson as the German girl and Louise Dresser as the spy's mother.

Direction, good. Photography, okay.

—The Film Daily, July 13, 1930, p. 10