WILL HE SUCCEED?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 637, 13 April 1929, Page 25

WILL HE SUCCEED?

After Viewing Thriller , “The Ringer, ” And Defining Super Film Productions, Judge Decides Against Edgar Wallace

A MID gusts of laughter in a Do ndon Supreme Court , Mr. Justice Shearman commented dryly on film affairs during litigation over Edgar Wallace's “The Ringer “Z have seen 4 super' films so 1 Icnoic what they are," he observed. “Z have seen * Ben H urf * The Birth of a Nation, 9 and one which I think was called 4 D ivorcef “It turned out that in 4 Divorce* the judge was the long-lost co-respondent

rpHE case was one in which a producer, Sydney Olcott, sued the British Lion Film Corporation of which Edgar Wallace is chairman for nearly £, 4,000, due, it was claimed, for damages following a breach of contract. In evidence, Olcott said he was to have made the book, “The Ringer, ’ into a super film, but, after reading it, decided that the material did not enable this to be done. Later Mr. Wallace said that anything could be done with the story as long as his title and name remained. Sir Gerald du Maurier, who produced “The Ringer 1 * on the stage, said it had a great plot and should make a “super” picture. In evidence, Edgar Wallace contended that he told Mr. Olcott that he could have a fair amount of liberty with the situations. Olcott’s counsel said the attitude of 1

- the defendants had been: “If you will , not produce our film you have broken your contract and can go away.’* 1 Mr. Justice Shearman attended a private screening of “The Ringer,” after which he said: “A ‘super film,* in my view, is something that has an element of greatness about it, either great in its conception or subject or else in the method of treatment. “The question was,” said the judge, “whether ‘The Ringer* was or could be made a ‘super film.’*’ In his mind the answer was obviously “No.** There was an utter absence of anything in it remotely related to actual life. “I do not want to belittle it; I see its merits, but this is the view that Mr. Olcott formed, and I humbly follow." Judgment was entered for Mr. Olcott for the amount claimed, with 1 costs.