This is the general rule,
at any rate. There are exceptions, of course, and notable ones, too,
but that all-powerful _motif_ of 'comedy relief' often gets the better
of the director's judgment and results in a product that is so
unbalanced that much of the illusion is destroyed. In fact, comedy
relief is a difficult element to gain. It should always be purely
incidental, unforced, arising from some major situation, and so
creating the desired contrast. When it is obviously sought after and
introduced without regard for its suitability it is not comedy relief
but comedy-out-of-place."
Since this, like the over-use of the close-up, is something for which
directors are largely responsible, it is the photoplaywright's duty to
help by being very careful about how he himself writes in comedy
intended to "light up" tense, serious, dramatic action.
No matter what class of humorous photoplay you may be writing, you
must keep in mind what we enlarged upon in Chapter XVI: Nothing is
funny that offends against good taste, or that, in any way, causes
pain to any number of the spectators. Comedy, to be worthy of
appreciation, must always be good-natured. National types as
caricatured by many comedians with the aid of eccentric costumes and
weird make-ups are usually as far from being real national types as
one could well imagine.
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