The Crimson Moviegoer

Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, and Robert Montgomery star in the major offering at Loew's this week, "The Bride Were Red." Sprinkled with a pleasant whinsy, the picture displays Mr. Tone in a manner better than usual and the film is greatly enhanced by his presence. Miss Crawford is splendid in the first reel or so, after which her part becomes slightly tedious until the later episodes. Mr. Montgomery plays his ordinary rich-wise-guy-mugger role.

Telling the story of a lady of disrepute who leaps from the oblivion of a Hollywood dive to the magnificence of a Hollywood winter resort, "The Bride Wore Red" gives itself away almost before it starts, so obvious is the plot. In fact the film's greatest asset is the fact that it suffers no illusions as to its own importance. Pleasantly it wends its way, and pleasantly it will affect the cinematic taste of the semi-sentimental moviegoer.

The companion feature is entitled "Dear Miss Aldrich," and, strangely enough, it succeeds in being almost funny at times. Edna May Oliver stretches her face to unprecedented longitudinal dimensions, Maureen O'Sullivan glides along in a manner that is just too, too demure, and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves in a mild way. "Dear Miss Aldrich" tells the tale of a girl's fight for recognition in a newspaper man's world; it is not recommended for consumption unless the reader is feeling in a particularly receptive mood.