Torbett D Novelization (1 results)
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by The Readers Library Publishing Company, Kingsway, London 1930
- Hardcover
Seller: Vero Beach Books, Vero Beach, FL, U.S.A.Vero Beach Books
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Very good condition maroon boards with gold front cover lettering, ornate gold front cover perimeter decorations and lettering with ornate gold spine decorations and lettering. Includes Foreword; Preliminary Page List of Readers Library Publications; Editor's Note and a rear section of Readers Li…brary Publication advertisements. All pages are browned but otherwise in fine unmarked condition. "A Fox Movietone Production starring Constance Bennett" -- from the title page. "The theme of this powerful and appealing story is woven from the raw material of human life. It is exceedingly well-witten, in plain language that everyone can understand. The story forms the plot of a brilliant play by Cleves Knkead, written when he was a pupil of Professor Baker at Harvard University, and it was selected as the "Harvard prize play." Ellen Neal, a pretty young girl with a love of music and good times, works at a factory but, owing to slackness of trade, at the opening of the story, she is thrown out of a job. This leads her to get work as a speak-easy hostess; that is, a girl who attends a kind of night-club, where she is expected to dance with the clientes and drink a certain amount of bootleg liquor. From this moment Ellen becomes the playing f forces that are too strong for her. Hence the title "Common Clay." Strong dramatic scenes follow in quick succession, and Ellen fights against terrible odds to uphold her social status, after having taken one false step. It was very much the same desire to see life and get away from her uneventful existence, that caused Alice White, the chief character in "Blackmail" (published by the Readers Library) to get trapped and mixed up in a series of complications from which it was difficult for her to escape. This story of Ellen Neal, with its strong heart interest, though entirely differnt in its plot and detail, is the same genre of novel. There are many surprising twists and turns in the pathetic struggle of this undaunted heroine to overcome the barriers of social convention. Fox Films have produced one of the most realistic and striking pictures of the day. The story is unfolded with remarkable skill and is quite original in treatment, gathering dramatic strength as it proceeds and working up to the logical and tremendously emotional climax. Constance Bennett, whose charming appearance adds to our sympathy with Ellen, gives a fine performance full of varying emotions, while Lew Ayres as Hugh, the erring son, is excellent. The book and the folm are bitter criticisms of the profligacy of the rich young American society of the present generation. The story deals, of course, with a particular "rapid" set, but it would be obviously unfair to draw from it the conclusion that the wealthy youth of America are always according to this pattern. They are not. But that such a set exists is undoubtedly the case." - from The Editor's Note.
