The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

Chapter 1 1 GENIUSES AT LARGE Genius is a form of eccentricity that Hollywood . finds particularly tiresome. It is just not equipped to cope with it. Genius is a nuisance because it cannot be controlled, does not operate according to any recognised set of rules and produces a commodity which the moguls are incapable of judging. The kind of artist Hollywood takes to its bosom is one with a transparent mind whose thought-processes it can keep under surveillance from one moment to the next, whose brain particles will function along broadly predictable lines and who will not embarrass anyone by producing anything new. Genius tends to function with a callous disregard for the Breen Office, the Hollywood Code, the results of the latest poll of cinema exhibitors, the currently popular gimmick and the average I.Q,. of the public. And then, too, geniuses are awkward fellows to get on with. They are liable to make a fuss if they have asked for Julie Harris and the studio gives them Yvonne de Carlo; they would probably cut up rough if someone told them that Joyce's Ulysses needed a clearer plot-line ; and they might take it very badly if an executive producer asked them to inject some light relief into Sophocles. For all these reasons Hollywood is reluctant to employ geniuses. But just as every major industry puts aside a certain portion of its budget for experimental research, the film 127