CUPID IN FILMLAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 November 1939, Page 8

CUPID IN FILMLAND

NOVA PILBEAM AND "PEN” TENNYSON. Recently announced was the engagement of Nova Pilbeam, Associated Talking Pictures star, and F. Penrose Tennyson, A.T.P. director. Nova Pilbeam, who at 14 appeared in “Tudor Rose,” has not been seen in a film since she scored such great success in “Young and Innocent.” She has grown up in the meantime. Nova has become expert, at ski-ing, having spent some time in Switzerland. She has travelled through Italy, visiting Milan, Venice, and Rapello, where the churches, museums, and picture galleries claimed most of her attention. At home in London with her parents, Miss Pilbeam has been riding, playing tennis, studying languages and music, and reading so much that she has practically developed into a bookworm. Even though she has not been seen in films, Nova has been working, and Walter Forde, who directed “Cheer Boys, Cheer,” for A.T.P., in which Miss Pilbeam returns to the screen, says: “I’m sure that Nova, in years to come, will look back on this period of apparent leisure as an important stage in her development as an actress.” Even though you may be more familiar with the name Nova Pilbeam than “Pen” Tennyson, that does not mean to say he has not made a name for himself in the last few years. Eight years ago “Pen” Tennyson, great-grandson of the Poet Laureate, left Balliol College, Oxford, and joined the film industry. He has been associated with such famous directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Victor. Saville, and Maurice Elvey, helping them with their complicated work at the studios. Last year he assisted King Vidor in the directing of “The Citadel,” at times directing Robert Donat. Michael Balcon, when producing “A Yank at Oxford,” made “Pen” Tennyson assistant to Jack Conway, who came from Hollywood to direct the film. Whenever they were afraid of letting Oxford down they referred to “Pen.” He has since confessed that he spent only two years at the famous university, and frequently had to consult more experienced men for the solution of the problems set before him! The A.T.P. production, “There Ain’t No Justice,” film version of the famous boxing story by James Curtis, is “Pen” Tennyson's first single-handed job as director, and Michael Balcon was so pleased with "Pen’s” handling of this subject that, he has assigned him to direct Paul Robeson in a mining film, tentatively entitled "Black Diamonds,” which will shortly go into production at the Ealing Studios.