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The Crimson Playgoer

"Devil Dogs of the Air" Concerns U.S. Marines and Things, Such As Stunt Flying

It's a good picture, fellers, and the stage show is above the usual level of those to be seen in Boston. A few paltry pennies invested in the offerings at the Met this week will be, we feel confident, money well spent.

In the presentation of the feature, "Devil Dogs of the Air," the Hon. Jimmy Cagney and Mr. Pat O'Brien, supported by Margaret Lindsay and Frank McHugh, go together as smoothly as a hand and its glove, and as entertainingly as a fat man on a banana peel; while Polly Moran, in person, scintillatingly fresh from Hollywood, shouts and jests her merry way from behind the spotlights right into the very hair of her listeners.

The regular Met chorus, moreover, comes through with its characteristically amusing antics, presenting this time, among other numbers, a flower dance, by the use of colored stems and blossoms glowing brilliantly against a stage which is otherwise smothered in impenetrable blackness. A spectral watering-pot, bobbing, supposedly unsupported, above the stage to the rhythm of a soprano solo will amuse you as it converts anomalous dark masses into posies to start off this dance of the flowers.

"Devil Dogs of the Air," a story of the United States Marines, you'll find to be done much in the style of such cinemas as "Here Comes the Navy," "Hell-Divers," and those others which have to do with goings-on in Uncle Sam's fighting forces and whose equipment and scenery are the real McCoy. Many are the aesthetically beautiful and photographically magnificent shots to be found in the film, while certain other scenes and bits of action hark back to the old "thrillers" in their more daringly tense moments, but which, on the other hand, are strictly up to date in their ability to create effects without any stretching of the imagination.

The inimitable Cagney swings rapidly through the part of the dashing young chap whose extraordinary accomplishments in the air are equalled only by his ability at love-making. Our own Jimmy, as you know, just revels in any role which requires a poise full-charged with self-confidence, just right "haphazard" events, a lesson to be learned, and a pretty girl. Here he gets his chance to go sailing off on all four cylinders. And how he laps it up!

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A crew of clowning harmonica players, varied tap-dance routines, and a Sovitsky overture-impression help round out a rather simple yet not unpleasant evening's entertainment.

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