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diff --git a/29209.txt b/29209.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..820f2de --- /dev/null +++ b/29209.txt @@ -0,0 +1,768 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Reel Life Films, by Samuel Kimball Merwin + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Reel Life Films + +Author: Samuel Kimball Merwin + +Release Date: June 23, 2009 [EBook #29209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REEL LIFE FILMS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _At least a contributing factor to the current cycle of science + fiction movies being made in Hollywood is the touchiness of + minorities having their nationals being portrayed as villains. + Cinema-makers are now trying to avoid further boycotts by using + space aliens for villains. But suppose some of our Extraterrestrial + neighbors are also a bit touchy?_ + + + reel + life + films + + _by ... Jacques Jean Ferrat_ + + + Pity the poor purveyor of mere entertainment in today's world. + He can't afford to offend a soul, yet must have a villain. + + +Twenty-five years ago Cyril Bezdek and E. Carter Dorwin would have met +in a private railway car belonging to one of them. They might even have +met in a private train. At any rate they would have met in absolute +privacy. But it being the present, they had to be content with a series +of adjoining rooms taking up less than one half of a car on the +Super-Sachem, fastest coast-to-coast train in the country. + +Their meeting in private was very important. Upon its results hinged the +future of Gigantic Studios, one of Hollywood's big three production +companies. + +Dorwin was the powerful plenipotentiary of the Consolidated Trust +Company of Manhattan and backer of Gigantic's multimillion-dollar +productions. He was on his way West to make sure that the interests of +his bank were being adequately served by the studio. + +Bezdek was Gigantic's supreme production boss. Former office boy, +writer, prop man, assistant-director, director, producer, and story +editor, he was the works--unless Dorwin decided otherwise during this +meeting and pulled the props out from under him. He had thought Dorwin's +trip sufficiently important to fly to Kansas City and get aboard the +Super-Sachem to be with the banker during the remainder of his trip. + +They had dined in the privacy of Dorwin's suite--Bezdek as befitted his +tortured duodenum on yogurt and Melba toast--Dorwin on caviar, consomme, +a thick steak with full trimmings, and a golden baked Alaska accompanied +by Armagnac. + +"How do you manage to keep thin?" Bezdek asked him, honestly envious. +"Polo, tennis? Golf would never do it." + +"I haven't exercised in ten years," said the banker, biting off the end +of a Havana Perfecto. He studied the little movie-maker over the flame +of his lighter. Outside, the flat expanse of Kansas rushed past through +the night at close to a hundred miles an hour. + +"Some people are lucky," said Bezdek, adjusting the broad knot of his +hand-painted Windsor tie. He was remarshaling his thoughts and ideas. It +was very important that he and Dorwin be in perfect accord before they +reached Hollywood. + +The banker, who was new to the movie-making branch of his business, +spoke first. "I presume," he said finally, "that you're aware of the +current feeling in our New York office?" + +The movie magnate gestured carelessly with a Saxony gun-club sleeve, +revealing a platinum wristwatch strap. "We hear rumors now and again," +he said. "It's about our science fiction films." Bezdek avoided making +it a question. He was far too shrewd for that. + +The banker, finding himself thus at a disadvantage, said amicably, "It's +not that the fantasy series isn't making money, understand." He paused, +looking faintly distressed. "It's just that, frankly, we feel they're +getting too far away from reality. Trips to Mars and Venus--strange +creatures.... It's not real--it's not dignified. Frankly, we question +whether an institution like ours can afford to be connected with +anything so--so ephemeral. After all ..." + +He paused as sounds of a scuffle in the corridor penetrated the room and +something or somebody was banged hard against the door. Bezdek, +frowning, jumped up nervously and went to the door, opened it, looked +out. + +"What's going on out there?" he inquired tartly. "_Ty!_" + +"Sorry, Mr. Bezdek," said Ty Falter, the mogul's private secretary, +bodyguard and constant companion. He was leaning against the far wall of +the corridor, mopping a cut lower lip with a bloody handkerchief. He was +a tall, deceptively sleepy-looking young man who virtually never slept. + +At the end of the corridor two lesser aides were half-dragging a tall +figure between them. Bezdek frowned as he caught a glimpse of a nodding +head in half profile--a near-perfect profile which showed no sign of a +bruise. + +"How did that creep get in here?" he snapped. "That's the same character +who tried to nail me at the K.C. airport." + +"Yes, sir," said Ty Falter apologetically. He glanced at his skinned +knuckles. "It was like hitting a brick," he said. He shook his head, +added, "Sorry, Mr. Bezdek. I don't know how he got in here." + +"Your job is to keep crackpots like that away from me," said the mogul. +He turned and went back inside the compartment. Dorwin was still sitting +as before. + +"Eavesdroppers?" the banker inquired with unruffled poise. + +"Not likely," said Bezdek, dropping into his seat. "Probably a +movie-crazy kid trying to chisel a screen test." + + * * * * * + +The incident had brought back his heartburn. He wanted to take a couple +of his pills but not in front of Dorwin. The banker might think he was +cracking up. These damned New Yorkers had no idea of the pressure under +which he labored. He sipped a glass of flat soda water. + +"Where were we?" Dorwin said quietly. Somehow to Bezdek he gave the +impression of remorseless rationality. "Oh, yes, these fantasy +movies--we're a little worried about them." + +"I thought you might be," said Bezdek, leaning forward and using the +full magnetism of his personality. Now that the issue was out in the +open his discomfort was eased. "Actually we don't think of our +interplanetary cycle as fantasy, Dorwin. We think of them as forecasts +of the future, as prophecy." + +"They're still a far cry from reality, or even the usual escapism," said +the banker. "Confidentially, I happen to _know_ that it will be +years--perhaps decades--before we make any live contact with the other +planets. Our national interests demand that we prevent atomic power from +superseding older methods before investments have realized on their +holdings to the fullest extent. And it is upon development of atomic +power that space-flight hinges at present." + +"Certainly I understand that--sound business," said Bezdek with his +one-sided smile. "I hope they wait for many years." + +Dorwin looked faintly astonished. "From these pictures of yours I must +confess I had derived a totally different impression of your theories," +he said slowly, flicking two inches of pale grey ash into the silver +tray at his elbow. + +"Listen to me," said the movie-maker, again leaning toward his +vis-a-vis. "We're making these pictures now because when the first man +or men come back from other planets our science fiction cycle is +finished. It will cease to be _escape_. We will then be faced with the +reality of what they really find--and that's bound to be a great deal +different from the sort of thing we're feeding them now." + +"It's a point I hadn't considered," said the banker, reaching for the +brandy. He nodded to himself as he poured it, then looked up at Bezdek +and asked, "But why this--space opera is the colloquial term, I believe? +Why not stick closer to real life?" + +Bezdek sat back and the slanting smile creased his features again. +"Minorities," he said. "That's why. Crackpot minorities object loudly at +being portrayed in films they don't like. We don't want to tread on +anybody's toes--there's trouble enough in the world as it is. People +want villains. But unless we make our villains--even minor +villains--people from nowhere we get boycotted somewhere by somebody. +And that costs us money." + +"Yes, of course," said the banker, "but I fail to see--" + +"It's simple." Bezdek was in full cry now and interrupted openly. +"People like conflict in their movies. If it's a Western they want their +heroes to fight Indians or Mexicans or rustlers. The Indians and +Mexicans object to being the villains and they've got big sympathetic +followings. Okay, so we use rustlers or renegade white men and we still +make Westerns--but not many. No plot variety." + +He sipped more soda water. "It's the same with everything else. Unless +we're in a war with a legitimate enemy to hate we can't use villains. +It's almost enough to make a man wish--" + +"Not with the H-bomb, Bezdek," said Dorwin frigidly. + +"Of course not--I was only speaking figuratively," said the movie-maker +hastily. "I'm as much against war as anyone. But that's what makes these +interplanetary movies great stuff. We can run in all the villains we +want--make them just as bad as we want. Audiences really like to have +someone they can hate." + +"I see," said Dorwin. He permitted himself to look faintly pleased. +"After all, a Martian can hardly protest what we do with him. I see your +point now." + +"You've got it," said Bezdek, beaming now. He leaned forward and added, +"Furthermore, we've got four new pictures in the works for the space +cycle that are really going to--" + +He broke off, interrupted by a knock at the door. He stared at the +banker, seeking someone to share his annoyance, found Dorwin staring out +the window, frowning. + +"The train seems to have stopped," said the banker. + +Bezdek turned to the window. It was true. The night was clouded and +dark but he could make out a single tree in faint silhouette and it was +not moving. The knock on the stateroom door came again. + +"I'd better see who it is," said Bezdek, rising. "Maybe something is +wrong." + +He opened the door quickly--all but fell back into his seat. The tall +young man with the too-perfect features--the man who had tried in vain +to speak to him at the Kansas City airport, who had been forcibly +evicted earlier from the car--stood there! + +The young man smiled and it was much too cold to be ingratiating if that +was its intent. He said, looking down on both men, "I think you will +wish to talk to me now." + +The sheer effrontery of it rendered Cyril Bezdek speechless for the +first time in years. Looking past the intruder through the angle of the +open door he could see Ty Falter sitting on the corridor floor, leaning +against the wall. His eyes were closed, his head canted at an odd angle. + +It was Dorwin who first found words. "Who are you?" he inquired. "What +do you want?" + +"I am from Mars," said the stranger. "I have come here to enter a +protest against the manner in which Mr. Bezdek's motion pictures are +portraying my people." + +The movie-maker's mouth dropped open. He closed it quickly, glanced +across at the banker, saw equal bewilderment on that usually poker-face. +On impulse, Bezdek reached for the buzzer that would summon aid and +pressed it firmly several times. + +"No one will answer," said the intruder in a voice remarkable not for +its accent but for its lack of any. "We have been forced to--to +immobilize this train in order to see you. It has been very difficult to +reach you, Mr. Bezdek, I am sure through no fault of your own. But the +people of my planet feel very strongly about this matter and I must get +some satisfaction for them." + +"So help me," said the mogul, his thin face purple with anger, "if this +is a gag I'll see you jailed for it! And before you're jailed you're +going to have a very unpleas--" + +"No, Mr. Bezdek--Mr. Dorwin--this is not a joke. We of Mars are proud of +our culture, our civilization. We do not like being portrayed as evil +and ridiculous creatures. We're not like those filthy Venerians. We +Martians have a great self-respect." + +"_Ostrich feathers!_" Bezdek roared at the dead-panned intruder. "You +may not be aware of it but there are severe penalties for holding up a +train on this--in this country. You can't go around slugging people +either. Look at Ty out there." + +"Your servant will be all right," said the intruder, "as will the others +aboard this train. I can release them whenever you agree that my mission +is to be taken seriously." + +"All right," said Bezdek, whose mind was nothing if not acrobatic. +"Suppose you are from Mars. Tell me why your people object to our +movies. Surely they aren't seeing them on Mars?" + +"No. But your Earthmen will reach our planet soon and your opinion of us +will be shaped in some degree by these movies they have seen. And since +the relationships of the near-future are of vital import to us now we +must not be represented as other than we are. Such misconceptions could +breed interplanetary war." He shuddered. + +"I think you're crazy!" said Bezdek. He turned to the banker, who was +again staring out the window. + +"There's something out there--look," said Dorwin. + +"That is our ship," the intruder told them blandly. "That is why we +stopped the train here. It is the only flat area sufficiently unsettled +for our landing and departure without detection. We must return at once +or lose perihelion." + +"Let me see," said Bezdek. He peered through the window. There _was_ +something out there--something black and vague and shaped like an +immense turtle with jagged projections. He tried to tell himself he was +seeing things, failed. + +"Amazing!" said E. Carter Dorwin. "It's utterly amazing!" + +"Incredible is the word for it," Bezdek said wearily. He faced the +intruder, said bluntly, "Very well, you say you're from Mars. And I say +to your face that you aren't!" + +"You seem remarkably sure, Mr. Bezdek." + +"And why not?" The movie-maker was in his element now, delivering the +clincher in an argument. "Our scientists have proved conclusively that +Earthmen cannot exist on Mars without space-suits. You say you're a +Martian. Yet you look like one of us. So if you can live on Mars, how +can you live in our atmosphere without a space-suit of some sort? +There's one for you to answer!" He chortled. + +"But I _am_ wearing protection--a protective suit arranged to give the +impression that I am an Earthman." A flicker of something akin to +distaste passed over his singularly immobile face. + +"I'd like to see what you _do_ look like," said Dorwin, suddenly +entering into the eerie conversation. + +Something like a sigh escaped the intruder. Then he said, "Very well. It +is important that you believe me, so--" His hands went to the top of his +scalp and deliberately he peeled the life-like mask slowly from the +hidden features of his thoroughly Martian face! + +It was a very odd face--not at all human. It reminded Bezdek a little of +an immutably sad Bassett Hound he kept in his Hollywood kennel. It made +Dorwin think of his mother-in-law. It was not a frightening face and the +single eye in the center of the forehead held them with its mournful +regard, held them, held them ... + +When they were thoroughly under its hypnotic spell the Martian began to +speak softly ... + + * * * * * + +Ty Falter was slow in waking up. But when he realized that he was lying +there in the corridor he came to with a start. If Bezdek ever found out +about this he'd be cooked as far as Hollywood went! + +He got to his feet, his unsteadiness helped not at all by the fact that +the train chose that moment to start with a jerk. He grabbed at the wall +as a meteor flashed through the dark of the Kansas night outside the +window. + +Funny, he thought, the damned thing was going _up_, not _down_. But he +forgot about the meteor as he heard the voices coming from the stateroom +he was being paid to guard. He reeled over to the partly opened door and +listened. + +Bezdek was talking volubly, enthusiastically as he did when he spoke of +the actual making of a picture. "... so we'll only have to reshoot a few +sequences, Dorwin. The cost will be nothing compared to the returns. +Think of it! Our space-pilot hero crashes on _Venus_. He has to fight +horrible slimy swamp creatures--we can make them look like crocodiles +with six or eight legs--to reach the mountaintop where the girl is +hiding ..." + +He paused and Dorwin said gravely, "I'm glad, since these space operas +seem to be necessary, that you have decided to locate them on a _real_ +planet like Venus rather than a _fictitious_ one like Mars. If minority +pressure groups force us to use fantasy then it is as well to stay as +credible as possible." + +"Right, Dorwin! Right on the nose!" cried Bezdek. "And we can make real +villains out of these Venerians, real bang-up nasty heavies!" + +The banker's voice came through the door again. He said doubtfully, "But +how can we be sure about the Venerians ..." + +"Because I can feel it _here_!" cried the movie-maker. The thump that +accompanied his final word told Ty that his boss had smote himself +dramatically over the heart as he delivered the climactic line. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ May 1954. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Reel Life Films, by Samuel Kimball Merwin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REEL LIFE FILMS *** + +***** This file should be named 29209.txt or 29209.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/2/0/29209/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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