Judge — December 23, 1922 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ruth Hale’s Movie “Say it with Pic N THE middle of the storm in “The thing but cow bells. There was a terrific I Pown that ot God” we tried an howling of the wind machines and the experiment that suggested itself as familiar rattle-de-bang of the glass the only way to settle a suspicion which crashes. In fact, what with wl we einus with increasing persistency as read in the program, and what we heard y ion was from back stage from the orchestra that we were not so much seeing a storm — pit, we felt quite as if we had been through storm orchestra, a storm. But a picture is a picture—at Soy our eyes for a few seconds. least, it ought to be. And there are We will certainly go so far as to say that) ways of doing it. It is only necessary we would rather | t without the pic- to use a little sense. ture than see it without the racket. William Fox is very proud of that V HEN Griffith was doing “Way storn In his program he says that “the Down East” he went about it in a flood seene’ is “a! vst realistic very practical sort of way. He knew effects ever shown in the of the t he wanted to show on his screen, theater.” » produce this tremendous d of going solemnly off and putting climax.” the program continues, “fifty: Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess in two buildings were erected in a remote danger of their lives in an actual ice jam section of New J these buildings he took them both up to Farmington, two including houses, and furnished, summers ago, and sent them out to battle conerete streets, a church, several halls, with some beautiful imitation ice cakes and various stores, the whole constitut- in the river. Miss Gish, done up in the ing a small town. Twenty-one thousand y fur coat that her apparent predic cubie fect of concrete, 140,000 feet of ment called for, suffered considerably lumber, and 210,000 shingles were used. from the heat, and every little while the } A conercte dam, twenty-one feet in cameras would have to be idle while height, was erected in this accu: somebody rowed out to whatever ice mulating 4,320,000 gallons of water which — block she had just lit on and give her an se for the flood scene. ice cream cone. But with time off now and again for getting cool she and f this sounds very imposing, but’ Barthelmess did things which, when they have seen a one alarm fire in our appeared on the screen, were thrilling, street kick up almost as much fuss, It dangerous and as cold as git-out. A fe seems shocking that Mr. Fox could spend moments before young Barthelmess w so much money, use up se much concrete shown staggering from ice block to i and so many shingles without assailing block, a ice jam, minus the actors, ve with more effect. had been pictured, and it was the easiest } Of course, there was a lot of fine, driv- thing in the world for the imagination of | ing rain, lighted vividly if infrequently the audience to believe that its hero hy flashes of lightning, and there was a was leaping for his life on the edge of the } pretty spectacular wind, that looked real ice falls. | more like the doings of the he: avens than This appears to us vastly more in- | of the wind machines. But the me telligent than to build a real catastrophe sight of it) was nowhere nearly good that, when it gets onto the screen, looks enough, The real excitement, such merely insignificant. Mr. Fox's interest it had, came from the orchestra. 1 in literal truth goes even farther, appar- musie was splendid—a great wild, rush- ently, than the 4,000,000 gallons of real ing concussion of sounds. ‘Then there water, and the rest of his flood prepa were extra things, which we shall have to tions, ‘The program also contains this: report impressionistically, and with a +pThis is a true story—not fiction. It considerable belief that we bait not be was recently related by the principal very socurate. nat: Lehieve *F character—as it actually happened—and example, that a “ dropped a for tl h hi heavy chain to the floor about once in so WS! ipted for the s een with his per- : mission.” Well, there isn’t a scene in the often, but that was what it sounded lik : in We think it unlikely that wards and yards Picture that has an atom of plausibility. of sail cloth were torn’ violently into It is not for nothing that fiction is less strips, but that is nevertheless what we strange than truth, jon must be heard. In fact, we seemed to hear every- true with the eternal truths—at least, aL are ne picture as hearin sey were lot Ic Page tures what will pass muster as eternal truths. They pt for individual entertainment. We do not go so far as to say that the “The 1 was drawing a ry single thing in the ve happened to him. r something very ha if the story had come in to th experienced Hettie Grey for Mr. Fox, as a story unsupported by would fairly snorted her incredulity. a short term as a press wherein he would hear constantly axion of the dramatic editors: “G fake story that sounds true the true ones that sound phoney to your- Alll special cases are less, exec original narrator of Forgot Every really | will wa personal testimony, should serv self.” orchestra at the Selwyn The Ts in our long-standing cc excitement derived at least four-fifths from the music to which it was shown, It is all very well to show a procession of white (also Protestant, n) riders winding hill, but when they ride to the of the “Ride of the Valkyries,” is tremendous. We would, in fact, go a Jong way around Mr. Robin Hood's barn before we would consent to see ation” without the Wagnerian Anglo- Birth of contribution. Music will always be a pleasing addi- tion to a motion picture. not be essential to the best of them it will become less so. Jekyll and Mr, Hy in silence, and “Tol’s aa Davi that her after we will have manent text, on which we will preach producers, with occasional prayers: “Say it with pictures,” 33 picture Baker, editor B! Y if Mr. Fox does build a real town and hoard a real flood and make his own special disaster, only to find in the end that his chief reliance must be on the and the wind machines, he has more than one stout precedent on his side, Uke most striking of all of them having been but lately revived. “TI Birth of a Nation” caine to, for a week, nd confirmed us viction that its Gentile, We a projection room, and we didn't know there hadn't been any music till somebody We think we would like “The Cabinet of Dr. and keep all