The San Francisco call., 1908-10-11
LADY AACbETH H 7H
SLEEP WALKING 0cRNE

tion of the story might be conveyed,
and kept essentially Shakespearean,
even in pantomime, would insure it at
least moderately successful reception.
The success of this romantic classic
was, of course. in great part due to the
fact that the whole world, whether it
live on the various south sides, north
ends, mob hills or shanty hollows of So
cial level and caste, is familiar with the
tragic love story of the Veronese i'm
mortals The lines of the play and
the details, it may not be familiar with.
but the tender and the tragic facts, and
the names Romeo" and Juliet" which
the facts so tragically touched in
bygone time, each generation Of the
world as it attains the romancing age,
knows, whether it reads books or not.
The film was unusually good the cos
tuning of the richest procurable; the
staging, parts of which were placed out
in the open, where leaves futtered
realistically under the moonlight, and
horses-an effective departure from the
original lines, this feature-drove mad
ly TO consummate the desire of their
masters, was done far more convin-
cingly than any stage arrangements
have witnessed on the legitimate
boards. From the graceful mingling
of the maskers at the ball, with which
the cinematograph rendition opens the
play, to the last bloody scenes enacted
in the death vaults of the Capulets, the
movement lucidly told the story and
held the flavor of the original to re-
markable degree
1t was, of course, necessary to take
some liberties with the authors origi-
nal version in staging this play for the
nickelodeon, though the general tech
nical sequence of exposition, develop
ment, climax and denouement was care
fully adhered to. The introduction of
horses, alluded to above, in the elope-
ment scene and the frantic dash of the
lovers, riding out of the Capulet gar
dens to the marriage altar, was one of
these effective liberties More or less
freedom of translation is imperative TO
make clear certain situations, which the
give and take of words accomplishes
in the legitimate drama. 1t is quite
remarkable how intelligibly the silent
phantom play of the moving pictures
can point its meanings. Doubt was at
first entertained whether the subtle
tAC1 anu A4AlCl SldQlnSS Oh Ine
plays could be adequately sug-
gested in the dumb show, but
il has been proven that a troop of good
players can render even these details
with a certain satisfying nicely in
mere gesture and twisting of the fea-
lures. To instance:
In the cinematograph translation
Romeo, after he has revealed himself
to Juliet and won from her startled
face certain betrayal OF her budding
passion, being himself much perturbed,
takes his leave from the ball room
in company with his friends Mercutio
and Benvolio, just as in the original
play. At the portals of the mansion
they are leaving Romeo eludes his
companions. slipping away into the
shadows of the garden, to linger a
while near the cote of his love, to be
alone in his transport. He escapes his
friends, who search for their amorous
companion, with some difficulty. 1t
is in this desire to elude even his near
est friends, to escape their badinage.
and the instinctively stealthy manner
in which he accomplishes it. that the
frenzied state of love into which Romeo