NOEL COWARD'S DEBUT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 216, 12 September 1935, Page 8

NOEL COWARD'S DEBUT.

IN INTRIGUING LOVE DRAMA

"The Scoundrel," a film wholly written directed and produced bv Ben Hecht and Charles Mac Arthur, wealthy and enterprising independent New York producers, is the vehicle chosen to bring Xoel Coward, world-famous dramatist, actor and composer to the screen in his initial him role. The picture, which will be released to-morrow at St. James , Theatre, is a brilliant and satiric treatment of Aew York's smart set and its people, too wise to love well.

""The Scoundrel" is said to fulfil a promise that motion pictures have long tailed to satisfy.

Hecht and Mac Arthur selected striking personalities of New York's smart literary set for their barbed characterisations in this film, and blended humour, satire and gripping drama with skill and mastery. Coward is the leading personality of this society of unprincipled parasites. He is a man of great charm to women, but one incapable of a lasting attachment. when Julie Haydon, a youug poetess, joins the group, Coward is drawn to her by her freshness, honesty and ingenuousness. But even she is unable to hold his ove. Finally to escape her importunities lie takes passage in an aeroplane. The aeroplane is reported wrecked, and Coward killed. While his erstwhile friends are discussing his demise with horrible detachment, Coward suddenly reappears on the scene. He has returned to atone to Julie Haydon. From this point to the climax, when Coward reveals his secret, the picture is said to move with vivid intensity and force.

By all reports, Noel Coward, dn hie first appearance before the cameras, is amazingly effective, and gives promise of a screen career equal to his extraordinary achievements on the stage. Julie Haydon, a complete newcomer to films, is reported to have established a name for herself for dramatic acting, and more should be heard of her in the cinema world.