Specter [Spectre] of the Rose

Los Angeles: Republic Productions, Circa 1945. Final script for the 1946 film noir. Specially bound copy belonging to actor Billy Gray, with his name in gilt on the front board. INSCRIBED by director and screenwriter Ben Hecht to Gray on the front endpaper: "To Billy Gray / the actor with a tie / gratefully for a high class job as J. Jones / Ben Hecht." With six photographs from the film bound in among the script pages. Rare.

The only film both written for screen and directed by Ben Hecht, and one of the great unheralded US noirs. A ballet dancer suspected of murdering his first wife and former ballet partner attempts a stage comeback, only to begin losing control of his murderous impulses again.

Bound in maroon quarter-leather and red cloth. Title page present, with credit for Hecht, noted as "Production Completed / December 1, 1945." 107 leaves, with last page of text numbered 105. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Very Good plus, binding Very Good, with bruising, rubbing, and some loss to the spine.

Grant US. Lyons US. Selby US. Spicer US.

[Book #172334]