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On this Page 36
Hollywood starts
work on "Doll"
"Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn
To do this ruthless piece of butchery,
Albeit they were flesh'd villains, bloody dogs,
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion."
THE Dighton in those
lines from Shakes-
peare's "Richard III" was
named by the author at-
one of the murderers of
the Princes in the Tower.
And John Dighton, now in
Australia writing the script for
the film version of Ray
Lawler's "Summer of thc
Seventeenth Doll," is a direct
descendant of that wicked
fellow.
"Although history seems to
have exonerated Dighton and
Forrest, my family won't have
a bar of it." Mr. Dighton
smilingly told me. "We still
firmly believe in the Shakes-
pearian version.
"When you have a spec-
tacular villain as an ancestor
you should stick to him, and
not let historians take him
away from you.
"My only respectable an-
cestor was Miss Dighton, who
married William Penn, who
founded Pennsylvania. We
hardlv ever mention her at
all."
John Dighton, whose char-
acter doesn't contain an ounce
- By -
RONALD McKIE
of mayhem, defines himself
as a man who writes wild
comedy and photographs like
a Victorian funeral.
He is small, soft-voiced,
humorous, and observant, and
doesn't look in the least like
a Hollywood version of a
scriptwriter.
That doesn't mean a thing,
because he went to Charter-
house and Cambridge - and
doesn't look or sound a bit
like a product of Charterhouse
or Cambridge, either.
The plum . . .
But what of "Thc Doll,"
and what are John Dighton's
plans for it?
"I think it's a splendid play,
and I was very impressed with
it when I saw it in London.
Unfortunately, I did not meet
Ray Lawler.
"In Hollywood, where there
was heavy bidding for the
film rights, it was regarded as
the plum of the year, and the
script was regarded as a plum!
too.
"It has a fresh story, the!
characters are real and in-(
triguing, and the play offers!
much more scope as a film!
than most plays do.
"Even though I say this, 1
think it will be a better film
than a play.
"Carol Reed, who directed
'The Third Man.' 'Odd Man
Out,' 'Fallen Idol,' and others,
is reported to be interested in
directing 'The Doll'.'"
1 asked him if he would
alter the play much, and
whether it would end up more
Hollywood than Australian.
"I intend to stick to the
play as closely as possible. The
two barmaids and the old
woman are good characters,
but a little more color is
needed in the development of
the relationship between the
two cane-cutter>.
"In its construction Lawler's
play runs downhill all the way.
This, I feel, was a weakness.
"I intend to give the film
version what I regard as a
necessary build-up to a dram-
atic peak in the middle.
"The Australian slang is

It'll be

true to

the play

perfectly obvious when fol-
lowed in its context, but some
terms like 'Up there, Cazaly,'
which have only regional
meaning even in Australia,

will come out.

The makers of the film,
Harold Hecht, James Hill,
who recently married Rita
Hayworth, and Burt Lancas-
ter, have no intention of turn-
ing 'The Doll' into a glossy
Hollywood-type picture.

"Thev are broadminded and
liberal. They want it to be
an Australian picture, true to
thc play and to this country.''

Burt as "Roo"

I asked who would star in
it and where it would be
filmed.

'Burt Lancaster is almost

certain to play the part of
Roo,' and feels sure he can
handle the Australian charac-
ter and idiom. The other
parts haven't yet been decided,
although Rita Hayworth has
been mentioned. I can't dis-
cuss 'The Doll's' cast.

"We want to get the film,
which we plan to make this
year, into the fresh air as
much as possible, so I shall
probably recommend that the
film be made in Sydney, be-
cause of its color, harbor,
beaches, and in the cane coun-
try somewhere near Cairns,
because I want mountain back-
drops for the cameras."

John Dighton, who is 48,
was born in London, where his
father, Basil Dighton, was an
authority on prints, and lived
in a Wren house in Savile
Row and sold antique furni-

ture.

"Father had many famous
customers, including Queen
Mary and Lord Kitchener,
but the only weakness having
a father a noted antique dealer
was that we seldom sat down
at the same dining-room table

twice."

When John Dighton was at
Charterhouse, determined one
day to become a writer, fel-
low students included Ben
Travers, Forbes Robertson,
ind Dickie (Much Binding in
the Marsh) Murdoch.

He began his working life

as a reporter on the New-

castle "Evening World." But
after a year he heard that
Michael Balcon (now Sir
Michael), of Gaumont British
films, was starting an appren-
ticeship course in film-making,
and joined up at 5/- a week.

After the course he wrote

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THREE STARS suggested for the leading roles in the film
of the play are.Rita Hayworth, with her husband-boss James

Hill (above), James Cagney (centre), and Burt Lancaster.

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SCRIPTWRITER John Dighton, who came to Australia to
write the film script for "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll,"

with his wife, who, he says, is his best critic.

commentaries for shorts and
trailers and some slapstick
comedy scripts before going to
Warner Bros. as junior script-
writer to Terence Rattigan.

"We worked under a mad

producer named Jerry Jack-
son," said Dighton. "A fero-
cious-looking fellow with a

kind heart.

'"He had a bad habit of
popping in on the writers to
see if we were doing any work,
and once grabbed my pencil,
held it in the middle, and
roared, 'Down to there by

lunchtime!' "

Hobby: writing

Later Dighton went to Eal-
ing Studios and stayed with
the company for 10 years,
writing the scripts for such
pictures as "Kind Hearts and
Coronets," "The Man in the
White Suit," "Nicholas
Nickleby," "Saraband for
Dead Lovers," and many more.

In his spare time he also
wrote his first play, "The
Happiest Days of Your Life,"
which was first produced on
TV, then by the Repertory
Players in London, and then
ran for 21 months in the West
End.

His second play, "Who Goes
There?" ran for eight months,
and his third, "Man Alive," for

four months.

For almost the past decade
John Dighton has been a free-
lance, a nomad (with his
adored wife, who is also his
best critic) between the film
studios of England, Europe,

and America.

He already had a high repu-
tation as a scriptwriter when,
in 1952, his brilliant work on
"Roman Holiday" brought
him offers from studios all
over the world.

"I was in London,'' Dighton
told me, 'when William
Wyler, director of 'Roman
Holiday,' asked me to do the
script. I flew to Rome for one
month, stayed three, and
settled down there for three

years.

"Wyler, I found, already
had a script, but didn't like it.
I worked day and night, week-
ends, too, and somehow each
day produced the script for
the next day's shooting.

"I wrote one scene 14 times
till even Wyler, a magnificent
director, said, I didn't think
there was another version.' He
shuffled the scrpts, held them
out to me and said, with a
grin, 'Choose.'

"This was the parting love
scene between the stars, Greg-
ory Peck and Audrey Hep-

burn.

"Before I came to Australia

I'd just finished the script of
Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple"
for Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, and
may have to go back sooner
than I expected to do more

work on it.

"Scripts are never finished,
not even up to the day a com-
pany begins shooting. They're
changed so much and so often
that the scriptwriter almost

goes crazy.

''When I get to work on
'The Doll' I hope to finish it
in about 10 to 12 weeks, but
if anyone says, This is per-
fect,' or 'This is fine,' when
I hand it in, I'll faint on the
nearest carpet."

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