The San Francisco call., 1908-10-11

ish usurper TO the throne vacated by his
own death dealing hand; the unnatural
mother, wife and queen who was
accomplice in the crime: the tramp Of
watchful soldiers; the sudden appear
ance and temperance OF the murdered
kings ghost and the subsequent tragi-
cal events occasiOned by his revela-
tions TO his living son, Hamlet-all
this is so well worked out that one
gets a powerful and even physical i'm
preston of the somber quality of north
European tragedy with which the great
bard troubled the soul of the young
Danish prince One can readily fol-
low the development Of this play even
though not familiar with the story
The key TO the story. as told in the
nickelodeon. lies in the projection of the
grewsome tale that his fathers ghost
reveals to Hamlet. an accomplishment
particularly within the province Of
moving picture manipulation. What
happens technically to bring about this
result of spirit picture projection by
the cinematOgraph Is simply a process
of double exposure on one film. The
result Is superlatively phantomlike and
satisfactory: more so in fact than any
thing Of the kind 1 have ever seen at
tempted on the legitimate stage of
three dimensions BY this simple ex-
pedient the father in silence manages
to explain the method of his death and
the reason therefor so Enthusiastically
that the nickelodeon audience watch
ing the play gets the story clearly.
What would take perhaps an hours
reading of the original lines to COM
prehend is here in this picture story
within a picture story made Ineligible
in the space of few minutes.
Expedients of Kinetoscope
Again the kaleidoscope makes use OF
a very simple manipulation to render
the scene where Hamlet has arranged
with troop Of court players to pre-
sent a play, In which he has embodied
the story of his fathers murder and the
guilt Of the royal couple, witness the
presentation of the play, as the ghost
of the murdered man has revealed, the
situation TO his mourning and sup
posedly demented son. In the fore
ground are gathered the guilty spec
tators, with Hamlet sitting close by
watching for proof of guilt as the play
he has staged stings the conscience
of the new king and his unnatural
paramour. Soldiers and guards stand
by. In the spacious halls Of the
court the playlet goes on. accom-
plismng only too surely what
Hamlet sought TO establish Here
again that part of the audience which
is unfamiliar with the play get the
events against whom. and through
which, the young prince. blind to all
else but the desire to consummate his
vengeance for his fathers death. plays
his lone hand, to the grim end; and they
understand it in few minutes time. The
modus operandi is simply a second Aim
exposure of the group of actors posed
and watching the unreeling proiec-
tion of a first exposure made of the
playlet previously enacted and re-
corded. by another picture machine.
So the same object is achieved the
same Impression gained in the telling
of story by the picture machine
through widely divergent avenues OF
approach from those employed in the
presentation of a story wherein the
action is supplemented by words. The
rather remarkable fact is that the
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