Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: scenes were created on sound stages of Hollywood, Fact2: Halliburton was well-known adventurer of day, Fact3: relationship aborted by weather then becomes friends with high-ranking Lama in Tibet, Fact4: film contains first ever footage of ecstatic rites in city of Madras, Fact5: friends city of pierce cheeks and tongues with sharp needles Madras
Output (English): Ostensibly a filmed recollection of Richard Halliburtons travels on the Indian subcontinent, the film combined actual footage shot in India, with scenes which were created on the sound stages of Hollywood. Halliburton was a wellknown adventurer of the day, having traveled the world extensively, and even becoming the first man to swim the Panama Canal. The film follows Halliburtons travels, from the Hindu temple of the Goddess of Kali, through the deserted temples of Angkor Wat, where he is tempted to try to gain a fortune in jewels, only to be thwarted by a guardian cobra. He watches as Hindu devotees wash away their sins in the Ganges River, and is discovered as he attempts to sneak into the great mosque in Delhi during the feast of Ramadan. He falls in love with a 16yearold princess from Kashmir, only to have the relationship aborted by the weather, then becomes friends with a highranking Lama in Tibet. At one point, the film contains the first ever footage of ecstatic rites by Hindus, in the city of Madras, whereby they pierce their cheeks and tongues with sharp needles, and pull large carts which are attached to their bodies by means of hooks inserted in their flesh. The only credited cast member is Richard Halliburton, who stars as The Adventurer, as well as being the narrator of the film.