An American army officer can outwit a German military command, gain triumph for his country and win the best girl on earth--in a play. If our dramatists were only directing intelligence operations behind the Teuton lines this week we might expect to have those 70 Prussian army divisions outflanked and slaughtered by Easter and the war ended by the Ides of April.

Mr. Al H. Woods, who produced, "The Rape of Belgium," once was active in the ten-twenty-thirty arena. Now Mr. Woods presents his plays on a $1.10, $2.20 and $3.30 scale, including war tax, but the stuff is the same--in the production at the Shubert, at least. From the first to the last curtain a lot of stage ordnance is exploded while brutal German officers are stalled and finally thwarted in their purpose to defile an American girl and a countess in the inevitable Belgian chateau.

It might please a Watch and Ward investigator to see the lustful Teutons frustrated, but to those of us who have seen "Under Fine" and "Inside the Lines," it is trite and threadbare stuff. Mr. Anspacher, a co-author of the Belgium piece, might better confine himself to writing of unchastened women instead of the chastened kind, and Mr. Marcin, the other co-author, should stick to crook plays. As for Producer Woods, he is doing as well as when he produced "Bertha, the Beautiful Cloak Model," but not much better.

If the triteness of the plot did not spoil this play, the unplausibility surely would. The American girl, in a moderately daring boudoir scene, causes the German colonel's death. The next minute the American officer--a captive in the chateau--enshrouds the German lieutenant-colonel in his khaki coat and has the firing squad mistakenly shoot him dead. Then the American contingent goes and nails the German general for good measure. Being fed up on such glorious killings, the auditor might expect to see Von Hindenburg shot through the heart for the final curtain, but the authors have not got that far yet. There is still hope, however, for they are yet rearranging the play.

Before Broadway sees this show, it must be mangled materially by its authors and more substantial stuff must be introduced, else Broadway will not see it for long.