Channing Pollock (writer)

For the magician, see Channing Pollock (magician).

Channing Pollock, photo by Carl Van Vechten

Channing Pollock (March 4, 1880 - August 17, 1946) was an American playwright, critic and writer of film scenarios.

When the American distribution rights were secured for the German silent film Metropolis, Pollock was hired to write new English-language intertitles for the film. Unfortunately, Pollock chose to delete an entire subplot from the film, concerning the deceased woman who had been married to two of the main characters. (The movie contains shots of a grave bearing the name HEL -- a common female name in German -- but Pollock felt that American audiences would confuse this with the word 'Hell'.) The commercial failure of the film's American release is considered to be largely due to Pollock's unfortunate decision.