‘SUSPENSE!’

Evening Star, Issue 19796, 21 February 1928, Page 4

‘SUSPENSE!’

A masterpiec of mystery, ‘Suspense!* does not depend on gruesome detail for its thrills. There are no banging doors, dark and stormy nights, old church clocks chiming out the midnight hour, or any of the paraphernalia of the yellowback; and yet it is one of the most thrilling stories of the modern stage in that it has so many curious twists. An audience is kept in a continuous state of thrilled expectancy by the mysterious movements of a sinister figure who defies the efforts of Scotland Yard to catch him. and whose sense of humor prompts him to politely send in his card when he contemplates a nocturnal raid Elusive as a “will o’ the wisp,” he contravenes all the ruling of the Burglars’ Union, and makes his nefarious calls in broad daylight, right under the noses of the “Force,” when he considers it expedient so to do. His colossal impudence is his most engaging feature, and his carefully-concealed identity is more than remarkable under the circumstances. An audience finds itself making elaborate calculations as to the possible motive or speed of every member of the cast. Suspicion falls equally upon the just and the unjust, and the complications ensuing provide plenty of comedy. The author, as Sir Peter Brace, gives a fine character study of the aristocrat to whom “family” is the greatest thing in life. His subsequent fall and acceptance of the inevitable places ‘Suspense!’ in the forefrol- - modern comedy-dramas. The b< plan opens on. Thursday morning.