42—­Living room, same as 15.

     Maud comes in to find Ethel staring at an object lying on
     the window sill.  She crosses and stares down at it also,
     then, with a shudder, picks up—­the knife-point!

43—­Bust of Maud’s hand holding knife-point to show blood-stain in shape of rude star.

44—­Back to wide-angle of room.

Maud flings the knife-point from her in horror, then turns to Ethel and clings to her.  Both look towards door as Frank enters.  He advances a pace or two, sees them, and stops, aghast.

45—­Close-up of Frank.  His eyes suddenly drop, he sees the object lying on the floor, and, slowly, his hands go up over his eyes.

46—­Close-up of Maud and Ethel.  Maud slowly turns to her sister with a question in her eyes—­“Is he guilty?”—­and bows her head, then looks up quickly and fixes her gaze on Frank.

47—­Close-up of Frank.  With agony in his eyes, the boy protests his innocence.  Suddenly he pauses, realizing that he is not making an impression.

48—­Back to wide-angle of room.

Both sisters are staring at Frank.  Maud’s look is one of unmistakable accusation.  She looks down at the floor.  Frank follows her gaze.  Maud stoops, picks up the knife-point, and holds it out towards him.  He slowly advances and takes it from her.  He knows what they expect—­what they demand!  Slowly, hesitatingly, he draws a pocket knife out of his pocket.  The sisters come closer, drawn magnetically by the horrible thing they fear to see—­the meeting of the knife and the broken point.

49—­Close-up of Frank.  A very close view to show him slowly opening the knife, the point of which is broken off.  The other hand puts the bloodstained point to the broken blade.  They match!  They fit absolutely!

50—­Back to wide-angle of room.

     With an anguished face the boy cries: 

Leader—­“I DIDN’T!—­OH!  WON’T YOU BELIEVE ME?”

Back to scene.

He sees a hardening of Maud’s face.  Silently his hands unclench; the knife-point falls to the table.  Then, with an access of fear, he closes his knife, thrusts it into his pocket, and rushes wildly out, while the two girls merely stare after him, too horror-stricken to move, to follow.

The foregoing is a good example of how “straight” action, all in one uninterrupted wide-angle scene, would not be half so convincing, dramatic or suspense-holding as the broken-up series of scenes, all in the same setting, all in the one situation.  Incidentally, Scene 49 shows very clearly the distinction between the bust and the close-up.  This is a very close view of the boy’s hands, but it cannot be called a bust because of the fact that it is an action scene.  The close-up compares with the bust in much the same way that any painting with supposedly human, moving figures compares with those pictures which come under the “still life” classification.