WRITTEN BACKWARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 564, 17 January 1929, Page 15

WRITTEN BACKWARDS

PLANNING A DETECTIVE STORY How does the author of the detective novel construct his story, and how does he eventually find a reasonable solution to an apparently insoluble mystery? These questions must have often puzzled readers. S. S. van Dine, the author of “The Canary Murder Case,” which Paramount is producing at the Hollywood studios, explained his methods in a recent interview. He says that his stories are written backwards. Three months are spent in evolving the problem that every detective story must have. That is one of the most difficult phases of his work, for no amount of writing will take the place of a weak and unconvincing plot. The outline of the story is traced, working from the solution of the problem back to the beginning of the story. The next six months are devoted to writing the novel, which, according to van Dine, is the least laborious portion of the work. WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY “Skirts,” said to be Syd. Chaplin’s newest and most hilarious comedy will be seen in Auckland shortly. This new wyn-Mayer film deals in amusing fashion with the troubles of a man in search of diversion during his Wife’s absence from town. Chaplin plays the husband, who is inveigled by a pretty actress, Betty Balfour, into attending a cabaret at which she appears, with ensuing complications that are at their height when the absent wife returns. Nancy Rigg as the wife and Annie Esmond as an irate mother-in-law, both provide much entertainment. The cabaret scenes have been made on a spectacular scale, and are among the liveliest sequences of this sort ever made.