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H. G. Wells. The King Who was a King. The Book of a Film
The King Who was a King. The Book of a Film
Table of Contents
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FILM
§ 1. The Film, the Art Form of the Future
§ 2. The Primary Problem of Treatment
§ 3. The Love Interest
§ 4. The Antagonists
CHAPTER THE SECOND
The First Part of the Film
§ I. Prelude
§ 2. The American Point of View
§ 3. The British Point of View
§ 4. The Pawn
§ 5. Dr. Harting lectures on The Causes of War
§ 6. The News becomes Public
§7. The Pawn Moves
End of Part One of the Film. Footnote. THE LEOPARD OF CLAVERY
CHAPTER THE THIRD
(Part Two of the Film) THE PAWN IS PROMOTED
§1. Note on the Music
§2. King of Clavery
§ 3. The King reviews his Position
CHAPTER THE FOURTH
(Part Three of the Film) THE KING WHO WANTED TO KNOW
§ 1. The King Explores
§ 2. The Princess Departs
§ 3. The King in Council
CHAPTER THE FIFTH
(Part Four of the Film) A VISION OF MODERN WAR
§ 1. On to War
§ 2. War
§ 3. The King says No
CHAPTER THE SIXTH
(Part Five of the Film) PAUL THE PEACEMAKER
§ 1. The Secret Meeting
§ 2. The Coup d'État
§ 3. The King Kills—as Kill he Must
§4. Public Opinion veers About
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
(Part Six of the Film) WORLD CONTROL OF CALCOMITE
§ 1. The British Point of View
§ 2. How They took it in New York
§ 3. Paul looks Ahead
§ 4. Curtain Effect
THE END
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H. G. Wells
Published by Good Press, 2021
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Now the "Peace of the World," when we come to think it over, is essentially a negative expression. In itself it means nothing except the absence of war. It is human life with war taken out of it. The substantial thing therefore that we have to deal with in this film is war, as an evil thing experienced, as an evil thing threatening to recur, as an evil thing conceivably made impossible. Peace, we repeat, is simply what life is and may become as this shadow lifts. Our subject, therefore, is life overcast, but with the possibility that it may cease to be overcast, and the development of the will and power to thrust back and dispel this cloud. So necessarily we have three main strands to supply the threads of interest in our film: first, the lovely and splendid possibilities of life, relieved of the restraints and destruction of war; next, the dark actualities that destroy life in warfare itself, and cripple and enslave it monstrously in the anticipation of war; and thirdly, the will to end war. This last is the heroic element. The story of the film must be the story of heroic service, of Hercules, if we are to carry the struggle to an imagined triumph; of Prometheus, if we are to go no further than a phase of revolt, initial defeat and the promise of a remoter victory. I have chosen for this experiment to take the simpler and more glorious path, because I believe that there can and will be an end of war. In this film the defeat of war by the will of man is to be shown in progress. Man's will here is to be cast as demi-god and not as Hamlet. The spectacle is to be this present age seen as the Age of War Drawing to an End, and the human beings in the foreground must embody the hopes, fears, effort and success of a struggle that approaches a triumphant close.
In the opening survey of the material that presents itself, various methods of treatment had to be considered. Should we embody the forces at work in individualities and make the personal drama of some pacificist person or group our thread and chief sustaining interest, or should we make a film entirely spectacular, in which the onset and avoidance of war alike would be treated as mass phenomena, with waving flags, crowded streets, cheering multitudes, skirmishes, battles, war incidents, the hunting down and shooting of a protesting pacificist, the desolation of a home by a telegram, the recoil of young heroes from warfare, peace discussions, protests, mutinies, cabinet councils, international conferences and so forth, making together a vast heterogeneous procession from excitement to tragedy, fatigue and reaction? The latter of these two ways of treatment would be very much on the structural lines of that great unshot film, the Dynasts; the former would bring us much nearer the normal film story. It would be a normal film story with a relatively greatly enhanced and deepened spectacular background. The wall of the room would have to dissolve and show the world threatened by air, sea and land, but it would close again to resume the personal experience. The entirely spectacular way would certainly be nearer the truth, for the end of war is only possible through the convergent activities of thousands of different movements, propagandas, efforts and struggles. But it would make our film vie in scope and confusedness with the spectacle of life itself.
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