The Theater: New Plays in Manhattan, Mar. 6, 1950

The Bird Cage (by Arthur Laurents; produced by Walter Fried & Lars Norden-son) is a combination of all the formula tough-guy movies that a lot of people have been staying away from for years. The particular locale of The Bird, Cage is a gaudily sordid nightclub; the particular hard guy is the nightclub's boss. For the rest, Playwright Laurents invents nothing, improves nothing, omits nothing. He has successfully combed the market for a strand of perfectly matched cliches.

Wally Williams (nicely played by Melvyn Douglas) is a thoroughgoing heel. He got hold of...

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