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DRAMATURGY 75
tions. He could be shown reacting to the results of his evil-doing so that it will not be necessary to tell the audience about it. His final answer to the request for a conversion could be delayed for some time, while he deliberates, with self-probings, on the possible results of his conversion, both to himself and to those who are affected by his actions. Before his final conversion he could be visited by a number of people— people who are in some way connected with his evil-doing— and remonstrated with, argued with, pleaded with, and implored.
Dramatized motivated conversions. Better still, before the evildoer makes his final decision he could be shown (and this is very important) acting and reacting to certain results of his fell life. If these preliminary preparations are made before he is actually brought around to goodness, our evildoer's conversion will be documented so that what he does will flow out of his character and will be sufficient motivation for the story's climax.
In Wilder's Ace in the Hole, Kirk Douglas played the part of a newspaperman who was a double-dyed, unregenerate heel, liar, cynic, and conniver— selfish, cruel, arrogant, vicious, ambitious, and pathologically insecure. He was that from the beginning of the picture until almost the very end when, after undergoing a flash of unmotivated remorse, he was stabbed and fell to his death. This unwarranted last-minute conversion spoiled what was otherwise a splendid picture.
On the other hand, in St. Benny the Dip, the conversion of three confidence men who donned ecclesiastical costume early in the picture to escape the police was a gradual reformation— the first becoming a chaplain, the second returning to his old job as a taxi-driver and the third becoming a happily married man.
Realism
No matter how hard the screen-play writer may strive to inject realism into his script, he labors under a constant disadvantage. For how real, how true to actual life can a motion-picture story be? To be absolutely realistic a motion picture must be concerned