The House That Shadows Built (1928)

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ENTER SARAH BERNHARDT 167 he trembled whenever a visitor entered the studio, lest it be a building inspector. When Hackett swam the moat, he crawled on the zinc bottom, giving an imitation of an overhand stroke. The production cost seven thousand dollars — an unprecedented sum. Frohman was arranging for a “promotional” showing of Monte Cristo on Broadway when the opposition hit the new company a sinister jab. Experience had long ago taught the motion-picture business that you cannot keep a studio secret. Too many people of too many sorts are involved in a production — mechanics, cameramen, actors, directors, extras, even the distributing forces, which must know in advance the company’s plans. O’Neill had scarcely signed his contract when the gossipy breezes of Broadway carried the news to the governing powers of the motion picture. A Trust firm in Chicago started from the mark with a three-reel version of Monte Cristo. Zukor and his associates had adapted the play, which stood protected by copyright. But Dumas’s novel, being a classic, was immune from such protection. These rivals made their scenario from the novel direct, and stood scatheless before the law. Just when Monte Cristo was titled and ready for transformation into positive prints, the news reached Zukor and Frohman. In both minds it created the same reaction. They could not now put forth Monte Cristo as their first American feature. They must begin with a splash, a bang — ^with the unprecedented feature. This