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104 TECHNIQUE OF THE PHOTOPLAY and this strain is greater—and therefore more dramatic—than if we sat watching a fist fight or a duel with knives between the hero and the villain. That would be exciting for the moment, but there would not be the nervous strain that would be induced by the long, tense wait for the moment we think must come. The fight is exciting and mildly dramatic, but the hero is supposed to have an even chance with the villain and the outcome is in doubt, but there is apparently but one outcome of the cliff episode. We can only wait with nerves at a tension for the end to come. That is truly dramatic. Through the use of cut-backs, as already ex- plained, the finish is delayed while the situation grows in tensity, but we must first have the dramatic idea to work with, and the dramatic idea is seldom, if ever, the actual crime or the act of physical violence. Two men, each carrying a revolver, enter a deserted shack. A shot is heard, or smoke floats out. There is a moment of inac- tion. Which man, if either, will come from that door when it again swings open? Two went in. Both cannot return; perhaps both are dead and the door will not be opened save by someone from the outside. There is a far greater dramatic value in that moment than if the entire details of a duel should be played be- fore our eyes. The anticipation of evil is far more dramatic than the sight of evil. Suggest rather than show crime if you would be truly dramatic. Death is seldom, dramatic. It is even capable of being turned to farce if overdone. One of the funniest stories that was ever screened ended with the suicide of the sole remaining member of the cast. All the others had been murdered. It was meant by producer and author alike to be tremendously sensational, but there is but a short step from the ultrasensational to the travesty of sensation. Death in itself is not dramatic, but the manner of death may be, though it is far more likely that the dramatic will come not from the death or the manner of that death so much as from the effect that death will have upon the living. John kills Jim. The fact that he does so is not dramatic. It is the effect that Jim's death has on John's life that makes for drama. If he had not become a murderer John would have lived on a sober and desirable citizen, but the blow is struck and Jim lies lifeless at John's feet. In an instant John's whole life has changed. Not only that but the lives of his wife, his children, his parents and his friends are affected in lesser degree. John be- comes a fugitive from justice. Nell, his wife, is left to support herself and her two children. Sam seeks to take advantage of