Pauls Case Is by Lemont Johnson

The film Pauls Case is by Lemont Johnson but is written by Willa Cather. Its about Paul, a sensitive high school student, felt very frustrated with his home life and his family's expectations that he would grow up to work in a factory or the steel mills as his father and most of his neighbors did. He was not close to anyone in his family and had no neighborhood or school friends. Instead, he spent his evenings ushering at the symphony hall or backstage at a local theater. Paul dreamed of living the life of the performers he saw. He was without discipline and without direction. He had problems at school and was surly when called before a school committee. Eventually he was pulled out of school and sent to work by his father. He devised a scheme to steal money from his employer and then ran away to New York City where he stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, living for a few days the life of his dreams. When he realized that he would have to return home and accept his punishment he killed himself. Paul felt like his father, his uncaring teachers and classmates weren't worthy of his company.

Paul has entered the theater through the backstage door and the actors are coming off stage and walking up the steps to the dressing rooms. The first shot is of Paul looking up at the actors and talking to them. The camera shot is a bird eye view of Paul looking up at the actors. He looks up to the actors and feels they are better then everyone. They are the best of the best and Paul wants to be like them. Then the scene switches to an ants view of the actors. This symbolizes the fact, that they are high class and they are looking down at Paul. The next scene is again a bird's eye view of Paul looking up at the actors and then another ant's view of the actors looking down at Paul. This shows how Paul viewed the actors, he thought they were the highest class and he wanted to be just like them.

In this scene Paul has just entered the hotel after stealing the money and running away to New York. There is a long shot of the inside of the hotel and Paul has just walked through the door and is walking closer to the camera. The hotel is very elegant and Paul is dressed up proper because he just bought a brand new suit with the stolen money. Then there is an ant's eye view of Paul looking up and around the hotel and getting in the scenery. Paul is now part of the high class and he can't believe it. This sequence begins and ends with an ant's view of Paul because he is now official where he wants to be and with the people that he likes.

In the next scene, Paul has just finished reading the newspaper article