Since the discontinuation of "There Shall Be No Night," Lillian Hellman's "Watch on the Rhine" is now the only successful war play that the American theatre has produced. It alone out of the many that have been written, has reduced the world conflict into terms that are both comprehensible and acceptable to the average American. Miss Hellman does not represent this struggle as one of economic and social organizations. There is no discussion of idealistic concepts of the world as it should be. Instead the author has presented the more fundamental battle between the two ways of life--the new Nazi regime of force and the previous easier life of freedom and simplicity. Her hero, an anti-Nazi who has come to this country to raise funds for the underground movement in Germany, fights only to restore the Germany which he loved, which he wants his children to love. In his mind the struggle is between a way of life known to be good and one he believes to be bad. He risks his life not for some far-flung plan of reform but in the hope that he can help bring back the life he had known and pass it on to his children. His motivation is as simple at that, and one reason for the success of the play may well be found in this simple explanation of the reason why the ordinary man is fighting this war. Certainly Miss Hellman is not far wrong in her view of the fundamental struggle.

But "Watch on the Rhine" is not only a great war play. It is also the finest example of the theatre art that has reached Boston this season. The play itself is beautifully written and is especially remarkable for the deft characterizations of the type that made Lillian Hellman famous in "The Little Foxes." Even more outstanding is the fine acting on the part of the entire cast. There is not a single role which could be called easy, and there is likewise no role that is not played excellently. The three refugee children are portrayed with careful emphasis on the difference in background that makes them seem so strange to Americans. Lucille Watson, as their wealthy grandmother, turns in one of the best presentations of an elderly Grande Dame ever seen on the stage. Helen Trenholme and John Lodge do fine jobs in two of the less difficult roles, while George Coulouris adds perhaps his best characterization to the many he has done in the movies and on the stage.

The highest point of the production is to be found in the acting of Mady Christians and Paul Lukas. These are two of the most strenuous roles that have been written since Shakespeare and each is done with great depth and quality of characterization. Paul Lukas, after several years of absence from the stage, returns to give a performance which should earn him immediately the reputation of the finest actor on the stage.

This combination of play and players with the addition of afine Mielziner set has produced a drama that everyone should see. It will probably remain the great anti-Nazi play of this war, and even after the war becomes history this play will have great value as a searching study of a man fighting for what he believes is not only right but essential.