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50 A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF SCREEN PLAYWRITING
Man) , over mist-hung moors (The Hound of the Baskervilles) , in ghost towns (The Prowler) , in cavernous warehouses, up and down grand staircases, through the length of a transcontinental train, up and down the muck of slum streets, in the tortuous corridors of a mine, through the halls of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, among the ruined headstones of a cemetery, across the arctic tundras, through impenetrable jungles, up and down the escalators of a department store, from basement to attic of a deserted old house, up and down the various floors of a skyscraper, on circus grounds, up and down the elevators of the Eiffel Tower (The Man on the Eiffel Tower)— anywhere, at any time, with anyone, anything can happen in a chase.
Of late, there has been a tendency to conduct chases through streets glistening in the night from a previous rain. Carol Reed's The Third Man used it, as did his The Fallen Idol. The French Such a Pretty Little Beach, directed by Yves Allegret, leaned heavily on the photogenic quality of wet pavements adopted, no doubt, from the originator of the effect, Marcel Came, whose latest picture, Marie du Port, features this excellent chase background.
In ordinary circumstances, it would be considerably out of place in a dramatic picture to have action call for dumping a policeman in a stream. But in The 39 Steps— which certainly could not be classified as a comedy— this was done and the director got away with it because it was performed in a chase sequence.
The importance of the chase to any screen play cannot be overestimated. To master its intricacies is to be well on the road to success.
The serial
Although the writing of weekly juvenile serials is done by a few specialists, it would not be amiss here to discuss some of the aspects of serial screen-play writing. It is apropos at this time because all serials consist of a chase that extends over fifteen two-reel episodes of film. It is also appropriate because eventually such serials will undoubtedly become television fare— if they are not so already. The