“CYCLES” OF STORIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 190, 13 August 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

“CYCLES” OF STORIES

OLYMPIC GAMES SERIES. FRESH ANGLES NEED EID. Story difficulties arc a commonplace in these trying days when almost every plot is discovered to have a suspicious resemblance to about 3000 others, says a writer in an English journal. “Cycles” of stories still crop up every other week, chiefly owing to the paucity of fresh ideas. Bull-lighting, studio life and the Olympic Games are the basic subjects of the latest cycles. Eddie Cantor, Robert Woolsey and Lew Ayres are all preparing to play the toreador (the first two in comedies and Lew Ayres in a melodrama), while no fewer than six “behind the scenes of Hollywood” pictures are now actually in production, and three different companies are pareparing films based on the Olympic Games.

There is, however, a silver lining to the growing cloud of “grouped” films. Tod Browning, famous as the director of “The Unholy Three” and other Lon Chaney pictures* declares that the latest trend in film production is toward fresh methods of telling a story rather than new plot ideas. It is obviously impossible to keep up a constant supply of original stories, but it is quite within the bounds of possibility to make an old story look new by relating it from a fresh angle. This, of course, is the secret of all good story telling. The reason for the failure of so many novels in film form is that, whereas the author had the knack of giving his plot a fresh twist, the scenarists who “adapted” it for the screen handled it in cxacly the same way as they had handled a hundred more. Yet there are just as many methods of telling a story with the camera as there are of telling it with the pen. Let us hope that Hollywood gives up the futile pursuit of imaginary popular “trends” in film stories, and tries instead to find fresh methods of retailing the comparatively simple human plots which have been, the basis of most good pictures. The tobacco juice champion of the screen has returned to his home studio. Karl IDane was signed for a role with Buster Keaton in his new Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer comedy ‘ ‘ Speakeasily. ’ ’ Others in the strong cast with Keaton includes Jimmy “Schnozzle” Durante, Ruth Selwyn, Thelma Todd, Hedda Hopper, Lawrence Grant, and Henry Annetta.

In changing her personality and adopting a new name, Alison Loyd, leading woman for Chester Morris in “Corsair,” the United Artists picture, closes a book upon a colourful past.

“The Old Man” which will be released by Greater Australasian films is a typical Wallace thriller. It has mystery, drama, romance and comedy—all the elements our foremost novelist is wont to entertain us with. It is set in an old-world manor and a Tudor inn and goes from surprise until the climax comes with the revelation of the mystery man’s identity. It will provide considerable exercise for the talents of amateur detectives.