He commits a crime, but what stronger motive could a
man have than the one that drove him on to its commission? And
yet--and this is the mistake that we wish to point out to the young
writer--seven years ago a certain company released "The Bells" as a
two-part subject, in which, according to the synopsis published in the
trade journals, Mathias's only motive for committing the most
detestable of all crimes was that he was behind in his rent! Even the
magazine that gave in fiction form the story of the picture failed to
mention what is brought out so strongly in the play--the innkeeper's
distress at the thought that his wife's life depended upon his being
able to raise the money to send her to the south of France without
delay. The author _mentioned_ that Mathias had a sick wife, but that
was all. The whole treatment of the story in fiction form, moreover,
was farcical, such names as "Mr. Parker" being intermingled with those
of the well-known characters, "Mathias," "Christian," and "Annette,"
while the wealthy, dignified Polish Jew was turned into a typical
East-side clothing merchant. The real fault lay with the producer who,
ignoring the great and pressing necessity that prompted Mathias's
crime, garbled the original plot to the extent of allowing the
innkeeper to murder the Jew because (according to the fiction-version
in the magazine) he needed one hundred and seventy-five dollars to pay
the rent! First, last, and all the time you must remember that your
story _is not_ a good story if the leading character is not, at all
times, deserving of the spectator's sympathy, even when his action is
not worthy of approval.
Pages:
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352