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Jacobowsky and the Colonel:
Martin Beck Theatre,
March 14, 1944
New York Times,
March 15, 1944
The Play
By LEWIS NICHOLS
To start right out with the good news,
"Jacobowsky and the Colonel," which opened last
evening at the Martin Beck, is the theatre's latest
agreeable evening. The writing talents of Franz
Werfel and S. N. Behrman, which outwardly might seem
unalike, combined to tell its tale of a flight from
France; and the Theatre Guild, already producing its
share of the season's good plays, has given it a
fine production. While not a great play, it is a
pleasant one, and in this day and age that forms
practically the seventh wonder.
The suspicion may exist that "Jacobowsky and the
Colonel" is pretty much Jacobowsky's evening. The
authors obviously liked the character of the refugee
who had been spending "all my life in a futile
effort to become a citizen of some country." In
casting the part, the Guild turned to Oscar
Karlweis, ex-Vienna, and Mr. Karlweis is giving one
of the best performances of the year. With a manner
that includes some of the informality of Frank
Craven, plus a great many flourishes of his own, he
rescues the play from those moments when it becomes
slow and sends it on its way again. The scenes where
Jacobowsky is straightening out troubles are
hilariously funny; but Mr. Karlweis also can bring
pathos to scenes of defeat.
Jacobowsky is the eternal refugee, who has been
fleeing so long he knows all the tricks. He can find
automobiles when none exist, and gasoline in an arid
country. In 1940, he is trying to leave Paris; he
has the car but cannot drive, and so picks up a
Polish colonel taking documents to London. A lordly
soldier who, as Jacobowsky says, has "one of the
finest minds of the fifteenth century," the colonel
takes a girl along on the flight to a channel port.
At the end, the two men get across to England, the
girl stays in France.
* *
*
There have been a good many plays of the Nazi
invasion, but this is the first to take up the
lighter side of a desperately serious subject. The
Messrs. Werfel and Behrman manage to instill their
characters with great good-will, and if the colonel
seems at times to be on the side of caricature,
Jacobowsky takes care of that along with everything
else. He says the colonel, is Don Quixote, and his
aide, Sancha, and that is quite true. As a play, the
first act is slow, the second is wonderful and the
third is the normal theatrical out-manoeuvering of
the Nazis. There are a number of minor characters
which bring an air of charm to the evening, and, as
noted, there always is Jacobowsky.
Playing the part of the not bright but always
"ethical" colonel is Louis Calhern. A huge man, he
looks as though he might be a warrior of battles and
hearts; he is pompous and vain until he begins to
understand Jacobowsky better. Annabella of the
screen is making her Broadway debut as the French
girl who goes along with the colonel, and J. Edward
Bromberg is the aide de camp to Quixote. There are
other parts by Herbert Yost, Kitty Mattern, E. G.
Marshall and Harold Vermilyea, Stewart Chaney has
designed good settings. In directing, Elia Kazan has
stressed the humor of the play, which was what the
Messrs. Werfel and Behrman were getting at. A
curious assortment of accents on the part of Mr.
Calhern and some of the others might be blamed on
anyone. Jacobowsky should see to that.
Jacobowsky and the Colonel:
Martin Beck Theatre,
March 14, 1944 |
