TUNIS EXPEDITION

This is first rate reading, though in retrospect it does not add up to a great deal. There will, undoubtedly, be a flood of books recording the North African expedition, the swift mopping up as the French in North Africa made only token resistance, and the slowing down as the real operation in Tunisia got under way. But here is the first book, and it is unlikely that subsequent ones can take away from the effectiveness of this terse, pictorial diary of the first month, from the edge of waiting in England, November 2, until Zanuck was sent back to organize the film material secured by his men up to December 10th. Internationally known, for his brilliant record in pictures, he emerges through this text as a writer who not only sees action in pictures but can convey those pictures in words. His diary reads like an adroitly conceived sound track for pictures, with humor, originality, and a colloquial flavor of men and action, and rare bits of vivid incident. Sixteen pages of photographs taken from the films made on the spot. With the Morosco book postponed, this is IT for the moment.