Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood masterpiece Ornitz was engaged to help in the remodelling of a novel bought for Emil Jannings. The book itself had cost a considerable sum and could not be calmly passed through the hands of a mere continuity, for Jannings himself, a star of high ingenuity, apart from his really great powers of acting, was careful to oversee the shaping of all his own films. Thus in general he achieved the unity and coherence of his productions. In fact, this quality may be noticed in the work of a few of the more important stars, such as Chaplin, Fairbanks, Jannings, Von Stroheim, and some others, who, by shaping their stories round their own characters, do make a complete pattern of what is usually a rather chancy patchwork. The book bought for Jannings contained, they say, the adventures of a man and a horse. The man was the horse's keeper, and the point of the story was to show how well, in America, a horse as immigrant is treated in comparison with a man. The remodelling committee included Jannings himself, his interpreter (for Mr Jannings, in spite of the fact that he has since produced a talking-picture in English, at that time spoke little of the tongue), Jannings* director, his continuity, and two consultant authors, Ornitz and Isaacs. Of these the lowest paid were Ornitz and Isaacs, each receiving £60 per week. After several weeks of intensive reconstruction nothing was left of the original story except the man and the horse, which they might have plucked from nature in the first place for nothing. And then Jannings, famous for the promptitude and obstinacy of his decisions, said that he did not like the theme after all and would not play it. Ornitz showed a peculiar aptitude for the work of a movie author. In a very short time he had invented two more acceptable plays, a remarkable record to the credit of so new [126]