What must that adaptation have
for its fundamental purpose?--the preservation of "O. Henry's" charm
of atmosphere; the utilization of his cleverness with words, wherever
possible in leaders; the emphasizing of his purpose in writing the
story. What was that purpose? Was it not to show how a man's code of
ethics, mistakenly clung to, resulted in his misjudging a perfectly
innocent girl, with resultant tragedy? And, contributory to this, was
it not the aim of the original author to emphasize and excuse the
conduct of the girl--conduct arising naturally from her environment
and station in life?
These things must be conveyed, then, through the medium of
characterization, with the help of little human touches. The girl must
be shown as sweet, clean, without a wrong thought; the man must be
clearly depicted, his reason for being so seemingly churlish and
careless of the duties imposed upon him by his ownership of many
tenements must be handled in such a way that he will not be an
unsympathetic character.
Then we are confronted with certain studio conditions. The story must
be made of feature length--five or more reels. Again, tragedy is not
welcome on the screen. Arguments might be offered to show that the
original story will lose strength through the addition of the "happy
ending.
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