NOEL COWARD’S PLANS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 136, 25 May 1935, Page 11

NOEL COWARD’S PLANS

Intrigued by the Cinema

Noel Coward has finished work on his first film part in “Miracle on 49th Street,” the latest Hecht-MacArthur production, and by the time you arc, reading this he will probably be off on a holiday trip to China, says a British film correspondent. It will be some weeks before we see the picture over here, but one new piece of information suggests that k should be pretty good: Coward, a very shrewd young man in financial aflairs, has accepted, not a fixed salary, but a percentage of box-office receipts. So he has confidence in the film’s ultimate success.

Coward is now said to be considering a film in England. He has quite fallen in love with motion-picture technique, and, at the same time, has become a little disgruntled with the stage. His latest play, “Point Valaine,” had to be withdrawn from Broadway after a comparatively short run. Coward says that he still believes the play is good —possibly his best—and he is willing to prove his assertion by producing it as a picture.

Whether he does or not—and from the accounts I have heard of the play I should say the censor might take a hand in the matter—it is fairly obvious that our recent leader on his acceptance of a part in “Miracle on 49t.h Street” was remarkably accurate. We anticipated that the experience of actually playing in a film would greatly increase his interest in the cinema. Apparently that is just what has already happened.