Old friends of Penrod who take their way to the University Theatre this week are not likely to applaud the talking film as heartily as they would if they had never met the boy before. The engaging qualities of Booth Tarkington's book do not lie so much in the plot, as in the subjective treatment of a small boy's world and the wistfully humorous sketching of puppy-love. One recalls pleasantly over the years the beautiful Marjorie Jones of the golden curls, the twelve-year-old coquette who was so heart-breakingly cool and distant as she strolled inside her white picket-fence of a Sunday afternoon. One remembers Fanchon, the exotic little product of great hotels and continental schools, who actually "were her hair up" and shocked the children's party with the new Bunny Hug and Turkey Trot and Slingo Sligo Slide. Those naive and incredible days of 1912 made a story that, in retrospect, has the quaint provincialism of "Cranford."

All this is not to be found in the film. Though on occasion the talkies have proven themselves quite equal to subtle and subjective treatments, a true transcription of Penrod would not have been profitable to make. The director, William Beaudine had his due from that greatest of all prompters, the box-office, to film a mere series of boy's pranks taking place in this present year of 1931. The results is comparable to a good "Our Gang" comedy, which though marred by as low beginning and a lame ending, reaches considerable heights in the middle.

Particularly amusing is the visit of the head of the school board. Penrod is reading to the class his "model letter to a friend," just as disastrously pilfered from his sister's writing-table. Another high point comes after the Spartan initiation of Georgie Bassett, when Penrod and Sam report upon Georgie's indocility with a bereaved and Christ-like air. Georgie, the "little gentleman," has been badly over-directed in playing the bespectacled prig, with an unpleasantly forced result.

Leon Janney, as Penrod, is a talented and charming boy, with an infectious laugh and a most engaging swagger. But his face is far too pretty for Penrod, who would have been more accurately represented by Junior Cohgian, the youngster who plays Sam. If ever Hollywood does a story of prep-school life, which is unlikely, Leon Janney would make a perfect lower-form boy attending Sunday evening Chapel in an Eton collar.

The adult background is provided by Dorothy Peterson and Matt Moore, who are convincing as Penrod's mother and father. Zazu Pitts displays her agitated hands and middle-Western voice as the distracted mother of Georgie Bassett.