Raising the Stakes
The Perils of Pauline began in 1914 as a melodrama film serial produced by William Randolph Hearst. It was later serialized again in 1933 and then made into a movie with Betty Hutton in 1947. Most of us are familiar with the story; rich heiress refuses marriage in order to explore the world, eludes the villain who wants the family fortune, and always ends up in some sort of danger by the end of the reel. The danger is highly dramatic, she's laid out in front of a buzz saw, or locked in a room full of dynamite, or tied to the railroad tracks. The audience knows Pauline will survive, but they are glued to their seats with anticipation as to how. Now the story of a spunky, independent heiress on worldly adventures could have been interesting on its own, but the filmmakers raised the stakes by adding the elements of risk, danger, and intrigue. What could have been an interesting story becomes a nail-biting adventure. I see a lot of good scenes in improv. The basics of story-telling