Never averse to a free meal, two members of this newspaper took off last Friday morning to visit a special preview and press luncheon for a new English' movie, "The Chance of a Lifetime."

From the RKO Screening Room on Arlington Street we moved quickly to the Statler, following in the wake of a group of female film reviewers, a group of hearty, long-striding women who wore similar impressionistic hats. The women led us to the Statler's Room 400, where we found a long table set for lunch, two men who identified themselves as press agents, and a group of bellhops.

The women took off their coats, leaving on the hats, and looked around the room. "Where's the bar!" one said. The press agents looked quickly at a bellhop, who walked over and whispered something to them. One of them said, "I hope you noticed the wonderful photography . . ." then the door opened, another bellboy wheeled in a portable bar, and the press agent turned away and sat down.

By the time I got to the bar the women were standing around it in a tight circle, talking loudly to the other press agent, a short man in a tweed suit and a mustache. One of them smiled at me, brandished her drink, and said, "DeHaviland makes a beautiful Juliet. Vivien Leigh couldn't play Juliet to save her life." I smiled back and turned around to see the first press agent standing quietly in the corner, sloshing his Martini around in its glass. He looked up and smiled again, quickly. "Lunch is here," he said. I backed up to let the women get by and then sat down at the table.

The women had clustered at the head of the table, huddling around a fat man in a blue business suit. The press agent with the mustache sat down next to me and sighed, and pointed to the fat man. "That's Captain Auten, the owner of the movie. He's very important." The Captain stood up, drummed on the table with the side of his hand, and told a joke about a castaway and six nurses on a desert island. The women laughed and one of them said "isn't he funny!"

The press agent leaned over to me and whispered that Captain Auten had a Victoria Cross from the first world war, and that he had come over to help get his movie going in America. Captain Auten was still standing up; he told how the King had awarded him his V.C., and the women laughed again. The press agent laughed too, swallowed down his drink and leaned over once more. "I have to laugh the loudest," he said.

The bellboys were bringing lunch now, and the women were all trying to talk at once to Captain Auten. The Captain raised his hand, and one of the women shouted: "Quiet, he's going to tell another story." Captain Auten cleared his throat. "Once, when I was at a hotel in Marlborough . . ." The press agent buried his head in his hands. "God, I've heard this one fifty times. I need a drink." He waved to a bellhop for the drink and explained that he was travelling with the Captain and had spent the day before passing out two-dollar bills to people on the street and offering them "The Chance of a Lifetime." "Not many people took the money but the Captain goes over fine with women," he said. "He'll get a good review out of 'em." There was another rush of laughter from the end of the table and one of the women blushed and said "oh, Captain!"

The other press agent looked at his watch and stood up, smiling. "Captain Auten, I hate to interrupt but you've a radio program to do." The Captain snorted, shrugged his shoulders, shook hands with all the women, and went out. We got our coats, and one of the women was saying "What a wonderful man! Doesn't he make fine movies." We walked out the door and down to the elevator. The press agent's laugh was clear above the noise of the room.