Richard Arlen is one of the new actors in Hollywood today who, in our estimation, earns all he gets. We have liked him ever since he stood behind a chair in "Wings", just before going off to war, and said "Yes, mother," to a series of questions whose purport was "Now you won't forget to change your socks when you get your feet wet, will you?" He is refreshingly masculine without being a blatant personality boy. He creates an impression of hard-fisted strength coupled to the right amount of feeling without resorting to the Clark Gable sneer or the Buddy Rogers grin. "Sky Bride," now showing at the Metropolitan Theatre, finds him in a congenial, if unimportant role of a stunt aviator who kills a pal in an accident and then waits around until a Hollywood climax pops up when he can remain his nerve and once more become an "eagle."

Jack Oakie is the loyal friend who makes it his life work to help "Speed" snap out of the doldrums after the crash. Oakie is right in his element here and the two best sequences are rough-house scenes between the two pals. The female members of the cast fail to show much initiative, moving mechanically at the director's command. The audience remains well-pleased, however, as the story runs smoothly and maintains its happy-go-lucky atmosphere throughout.

Bing Crosby, radio singer, is the feature of the present program. We liked his well-planned arrangement of "Was that the Human Thing to Do?" and "Dinah." A finale, "My Woman" on the other hand, was poor stuff, an unnecessary and undesirable resurrection of that "she treats me mean, but what am I to do, etc., etc.".

Metropolitan stage shows are always pleasing to the eye. Their costuming is novel and the scenery full of startling color combinations without being stagey. We only wish they would present some act other than 1. A contortionist. 2. Anapache dance. 3. A bunch of acrobats. We have no grievance against these phenomena of vaudeville, but it does seem that there must be others.