Evening star., 1927-10-30
@HE film and the novel have
engaged in an ardent court
shin for the mast few wears.


engaged in an ardent court
ship for the past few years.
But both, there are rea-
sons to believe. have reached the
wise conclusion not to marry. They
will remain good friends. The Gle
nients of mutual incompatibIlity
which are hardly auspicious OF a
happy welded life need not stand i'll
the way of cordial companionship
between them.
The practice, however, OF attempt
ing to transfer to the screen the
plots and atmosphere of many OF
the outstanding works OF fiction OF
our day sometimes results in the
unhappiness Of both. Film produc-
ers have been eager to capitalize on
the advertising value OF the novel
.,uthors would be remarkable human
beings il they were able to resist
the temptation OF moving picture
royalties. The result is that the
public sometimes has been called in
to witness the ridiculous attempt OF
the fapper and the philosopher to
'7ake home together.
c, ming more and more recognized
as the portrayal of the human soul.
The romance, dealing primarily with
external action. seems to be defunCt,
at least in the literature of this gen
Grafton The action upon which the
present day successful work of nc
tion depends takes place in region
which no camera can penetrate,
ranging from the fetid swamps of
the Freudian subconscious to Brown
ing's sunlit fields Of love. work and
aspiration. The duelists facing each
other in the dewV woods at sunrise
are shadowy figures compared to the
thoughts wrestling in some field OF
the brain
The moving picture can reproduce
only the shabbiest framework of the
novel. The resultant film seldom is
outstanding-dcspite the fact that
the authors plot has been twisted
beyond recognition. And the novel
lists reputation rests with thousands
of people on the picture, with which
he had very little to do, rather than
on his actual work.
| have i'll mind two outstanding
novels of the present year-possibly'
extreme. but nevertheless illustrative
OF the type OF most of the others.
The first is The Magic Mountain"
by the German novelist Thomas
Mann. Few will deny its right to
rank as one of the four or five great
works of fiction OF our time Ger
tainly it is the great treasure of post
war German literature. Its success
in the United States has been such
as to attract any film producer.
Yet considered from the angle OF
the film maker. what have we? A
young German engineer, with
hereditary strain of tuberculosis in
his blood, goes to a sanitarium in
the Alps, stays there seven years.
makes various observations on the
nature of time and on the living
things in the woods and fields about
him, has long talks with various
types of men and women living un-
der the shadow OF approaching death,
recovers, comes down from the
mountain and goes to war.
In the hands OF the novelist. who
IS profound psychologist and stu
dent OF nature, this scanty frame
work of plot is sufficient TO carry
a great work of fiction. 1t is like
the tide rolling on over the souls of
men"
Yet what a sorry picture-llowever
skilifully it was dressed up by a
scenario writer?
Take "The World of William Clis-
sold, by Fl. G. Wells. A retired
business man sits at his desk and
tells in half million words. the
story of the evolution of his thoughts
from an unhappy childhood, when
the idea of the Victorian personal
God first struck him as ridiculous.
until, millionaire. he awakes to the
disillusion of socialism.
William Cissold is a remarkably
vivid. impclling figure. But he is es-
sentially dweller in the imnaterial
byways of the mind. There are only
two or three occasions in the whole
book where he comes within possible
range of material camera.
These are, very true, extreme
cases. Most novels have more of
material framework. But thev are