IVOR NOVELLO SCORES AGAIN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 31, 30 October 1937, Page 8

IVOR NOVELLO SCORES AGAIN

Tn attempting to assess the merits of the new Drury Lane production, says a writer in a London paper, I , feel much like a schoolboy tackling his " first essay. But wliereas the schoolboy ^ conscience dictates a thorough job of work, a critic has the licence to "cut the cackle and get to the horses.'' The ( trouble is that ' 'Crest of the Wave" seems all "horses" and no "cackle." , lt is as good as that. - So, rislcing displeasure ,,to authors, ' actors, actresses, tacticians,. and technicians, and all the motley who share in a Drury Lane spectacle, let me slip straight to its sensational climax, the

tram wreck, with a preliminary pat on Ivor Novello's back for preserving the secret even from the regulars who are supposed to know every 'line and move in advance. The curtains fall back on an express rip-roaring through the American countryside. Wheels revolve with a speed that nearly cheats the eye; the hiss of steam completes the illusion. In one of the compartments 'it is easy to distinguish some of the clever people we have met earlier in the : night. This Is in the conventional Drury Lane trar dition. But wait. * ■ Suddenly, witE a crash like thunder.

the express runs into disaster." Jn the twinkling of an eye one coach is a pile of matchwood ; another hangs precariously over an embatikment' as high as the average house. This also is in the Drury Lane traditions— only much more so. No wonder the case-hardened firstnighters caught their breath for a moment, and then stood up ibo cheer. So much for the train smash which.

after all, is but an episode of "Crest of-the Wave" — the most brilliant, most alluring Drury Lane picture the fer.tile mind of Ivor Novello has yet con.ceived. > ; As an impecuniousi duke falling for a little film extra (Dorothy Dickson, ■need I write?) and dodging the blandishments of a rich American shewoman, he carries the simple but pleasant story through the halls . of Versailles, the salons* of an Ailantic liner, and the gun turrets 'of 'a mighty1 man-o'-war into tne exotio atmosp'here'of a SoUth American cabaret and the tantalising sunshine of Hollywood beach, into an age-old abbey with its pageant of ghosts, and finally to.tbat disastrous affair of the jvrecked express. . . ' 'Crest of _ the Wave" is alight , with catchy lines ;and hright music ; it has at least one' notable ballet ; .its stagecraft is impeccable. ; . If space" remains for a' few "honourable mentions," apart from Mr. Novello himself, it must be devoted to the per7 formances of Dorothy ' Dickson^ at last revealed as one of our best character actresses — perhaps "the best; to Ena Burrill, for her refined villainies ; to Marie Lohr, for making a dowager human and amusing; to. W&lter Crisham, for his dancingj to Minnie Rayner, for familiar burlesque ; and to Clive Gilbert for songs that made her a success of the night.

Gerfrude Michael js due to sail for England this month to play in "The Card" for Associated British. !f Jif Carl Laemmle, Junior, plans to put Peter Lorre in the famous Lon Chaney parfc in the re-make of "The Hunchbacli of Notre Dame." Bobert Taylor is suggested for the part played by Norman Kerry. « ® «, Paramount plan to co-star Johnny Mack Brown and John Wayne in a series of Zane Grey Westerns. First ( will be "Born to the West." |