Screen Stories From Plays And Books

Waikato Independent, Volume XLV, Issue 6282, 26 August 1949, Page 2

Screen Stories From Plays And Books

Far more films" are. made from plays and books han from stories written originally for the screen. The reason is obvious. Once a play has been produced and has become a box office success either in London or New York, there are certain agents who lose no time in making offers for the film rights "simly because they—and all the world —known that if the plays runs for one, two or three years the enormous boost it will get, will serve as free publicity for the picture. In much the same way the bestselling novel becomes at once almost ready made material for tho screen, with a real punch behind it in the fact that every library in the country has been or is being beseiged for it. Recently there has been comment on the manner in which Hollywood play:' ducks and drakes with such plays and novels, sometimes changing them so much that the authors can scarcely recognise their work. That is by the way—they have sold the rights, leaving the purchasers to do as they please.