Recommended for age 5and older. This is not Disney's animated version but an enchanting silent filmfeaturing the sprightly Betty Bronson as Peter Pan. Jon Mirsalis will providepiano accompaniment. For complete program notes and credits, please see 7:30program. Archival Print: Herbert Brenon Directs Betty Bronson inJon Mirsalis on Piano A perfect blend of fairy tale magic with Sir James Barrie's special kind ofwhimsy and pathos. Though essentially theatrical (deliberately and sincerely so,out of respect to the form of the original), and only occasionally takingadvantage of the possibilities of the cinema (as in the shots of the mermaidslolling off the Catalina coastline, or the incredibly lovely shot of the galleontaking off from the water and flying back to London), Herbert Brenon's adaptationof Barrie's Peter Pan was an enchanting film. Barrie's text was condensed butundistorted (except for some intertitles which, for the U.S. market, establishedthe Darling children as Americans), and the beauty of his original dialogue,which could so easily slip into fey or embarrassing sentimentality, was handledby both performers and director with impeccable taste. Most of all, the film owedits success to the energetic, sprightly, dancing, joyous performance by BettyBronson as Peter. Even if one can sense, occasionally, the off-screen guidance ofthis then relatively inexperienced teen-age actress, it is a radiant performance,capable of shifting from joy to sadness with the slightest change of expressionor a nuance of body movement. William K. Everson