Letter from H.G. Wells, London, to B. Ifor Evans, 1936 February 3 : autograph manuscript signed.

Explaining why he does not share Evans's "alarm at the possible suppression of good writing by the cinema & radio", noting that when preparing a talk for radio, he edits and weighs his words more carefully than he does for print; going on to acknowledge the "minimal word craft" that characterizes silent film, while observing that with improvements in sound reproduction "the possibility of fine music effects & a subtle use of language increases"; writing that he is attempting to publish "'film stories' in book form with every word of dialogue & with compact descriptions in non technical language side by side with the production of the films themselves", and giving his opinion that it may represent "the possibility of a new & exciting literary form"; adding that the music composed by Arthur Bliss for the film adaptation of Wells's "Things to Come" has been "performed at the Queens Hall & made into gramaphone records"; concluding that he does not, therefore, share his concern, believing instead that "both radio & cinema will ultimately make for a keener appreciation of the spoken & written word."