Winding her tortuous way through an hour and three quarters of mother love, Barbara Stanwyck almost renders a successful performance in "Stella Dallas", currently featured at the University.

The story deals with the increasing sorrow of an up-from-the-gutter wife who sees the daughter she has raised from babyhood to womanhood won over to the rich, gentlemanly, but alienated husband. At the end, however, there is crowning joy as the mother sees her child achieve in a happy society marriage the prominence she had always longed for.

It's an old, old story, one from which the producers have steered so far away lately that its reappearance might have been refreshing. Unfortunately, they have spoiled it all. They have presented the development of the chief character neither evenly nor clearly. They have concentrated on no one emotional aspect. We are always being built up for a good cry, but it never does seem to come off.

Responsibility for the feeling of dissatisfaction which affects the audience may probably be divided between Miss Stanwyck, who lacks most of the majestical tendencies associated with the more material moments of the story and the directors, who have given us too much of the ignorant and selfish woman, for the good of their loving mother theme. John Boles plays a particularly bovine husband. Anne Shirley, as the daughter, does convincingly but to what avail? Alan Hale gives distinction to the part of Miss Stanwyck's genial boy friend.

Also on the program is "Married Before Breakfast", or some such title. Anyway, it has Robert Young and Florence Rice, and is supposed to be a lot of pretty witty dialogue and impossible situations brilliantly brought off. We never could stand Mr. Young's face or his me-too delivery.