A screenwriter remembers Hollywood, which he has left and will never return to. He imagines being back there, taking a screenplay in for approval. He thinks about the screenplay he might write, imagines how the story would unfold.
A chateau in France. Children at play. Fred, the screenwriter, is among them. Soon he must leave his friends, and find his own life far away. He goes to Hollywood, becomes rich writing movie scripts, but through it all he thinks of his childhood friends in France. During World War II he finds himself back in France, back near the chateau where he grew up, but this time as a soldier facing death.
"Sketch For a Screenplay" is a demonstration of Wyllis Cooper's ability to create a unique mood. A strange artistic achievement, it blends several layers of unreality with the penetrating reality of war. It's a story of kids and war, of immortality and death.
They won't go for war stories anymore, Fred.
Harry