Old Play in Manhattan, Oct. 14, 1946

Obsession (translated from the French of Louis Verneuil by Jane Hinton; produced by Homer Curran in association with Russell Lewis & Howard Young) was called Jealousy when it was first produced on Broadway in 1928. As a stunt play containing only two characters, it created a modest stir. It will-rouse little interest now. The play itself, stuffed with straw. by this time is also covered with dust. Perhaps it would still make a show piece for a pair of enormously skillful actors; but Eugenie Leontovich, with her fussy tricks and alien corn, and Basil Rathbone, with his striding and reciting, leave the play as arid as they find it.

A French dime novel behind footlights, Obsession tells of a coldhearted minx who marries a very jealous man while remaining the mistress of a very rich one! She is such a bad liar that the most trusting husband would be wild with suspicion in a week; her own husband has spotted his rival before all the audience has straggled in, and has murdered him long before the end. As the curtain falls, the husband is taken into custody. The wife unconcernedly lights a cigaret.