UNPRODUCED ORIGINAL FAULKNER SCREENPLAY. FAULKNER, WILLIAM. 1897-1962. 2 screenplays of the unf...

UNPRODUCED ORIGINAL FAULKNER SCREENPLAY. FAULKNER, WILLIAM. 1897-1962. 2 screenplays of the unfilmed Howard Hawks project Battle Cry, comprising: 1. Typed Carbon, 'Battle Cry—Hawks,' 213 pp on 3-hole onion skin paper, 4to, Burbank, April 21, 1943, marked '#2' on p 1, bound in Charles K. Feldman Group Productions brown textured paper covers with brass brads. Covers worn, a few pages creased. Faulkner's draft of the epic tale of modern warfare imagined by Hawks. 2. Mimeographed Manuscript, no author given on title but Faulkner listed as author on half title before section A, 235 pp (paginated 1-27, A1-32, B1-43, C1-62, D1-71), Burbank, June 21, 1943, many yellow revision pages bound in, housed in brown paper wrappers, bound with brass brads marked 'Property of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc... Return to Stenographic Department' ink stamps on front wrapper, and with 'Chas Feldman' inked to upper left and 'Hawks' to half-title of section B. Wear and chipping to cover, horizontal crease from front wrapper to p 17. AND WITH: 3.STURDY, JOHN RHODES. Typed Carbon, 'Battle Cry / English Episode,' 26 pp, 4to, May 17, 1943, bound with staples in green typed wrappers, some chipping, loss and toning to covers. Sturdy's section appears in the mimeographed script (#2) above. Faulkner wrote Battle Cry for Howard Hawks, who intended it to star Ronald Reagan and Henry Fonda (in the typed carbon, Faulkner has named his leads 'Reagan' and 'Fonda,' using an old screenwriter trick of relying on an actor's known quantities to flesh out a character on the page). Hawks asked Faulkner to combine short stories, a radio drama, and other sources to create a sweeping epic running around 3 hours in length, capturing the enormity of World War II and the lives it disrupted worldwide. The typescript in particular feels very Faulknerian, using a decidedly non-standard script format for a story that moves in and out of various characters' consciousnesses. Battle Cry was supposed to be the means by which Faulkner truly achieved economic and artistic freedom in the film industry: it was the be the first of a series of films the two men would make together over the years. When Hawks asked Warner Bros. for $4 million to make the film, he was denied, given his reputation for going over budget, and the dream of a joint production company evaporated with the financing. The typescript draft is all Faulkner, written in his expansive style, while the mimeograph has taken his draft and reworked the text into a more traditional screenplay format. Much of Faulkner's ideas remain in the mimeo draft, although the English Episode matches the text credited to John Rhodes Sturdy in the additional typescript. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing