The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1914-01-12
REALISM IN THE MOTIONPI0URE DRAMA
SroCKB RIDGE, JANUARY
POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE


act duplicate OF the "TietEen." but
constructed If wood especially FOR
the purpose, was lowed out, and from
another vessel. photographs were
made showing the lifehoats taking
To- the water. passengers leapins into
the sea, and all of the scenes and
horrors which surround genuine
satpwreck. up to and including the ac-
led by the producers of this film
that photographs taken on the deck
Of the ship. while possibly thrilling.
would not be entirely convincing un-
less an actual sinking ship were
shown. and so many thousands of dol
lars were spent in building the dunn
my vessel solely for the purpose of
sinking it after a few minutes of use
fore The camera
No better examples of the actual
reality of the events portrayed on the
screen in modern show could be
given than these Time was when the
movies" attempted nothing more than
to show stage effects produced by the
familiar mechanics of the ordinary
drama. But the motion picture audi
anees of today are quick to detect the
difference between genuine scene
and one that has been faxed. They
demand realities for their nickels and
dimes Recognizing this demand. the
producers of motion-picture films are
leaving mere illusions to the old
fashianed Legitimate" drama, and are
Spending thousands and tens of thou-
lands of dollars to give their patrons
tine real thing. If the action of the
nlotjon-pieture drama deals with
-Hi9wreek, ship is wrecked for the
purpose If it demands that the hero
inc shall be rescued from a burning
hotel. hotel is burned in order that
there can be no suspicion of fraud or
deception when the films are thrown
upon the screen, When the scene is
laid in an old Spanish mission, for
instance, the film producers is no
longer content to have his stage car
penter build an imitation mission
building, but moves his entire COM
pany and his camera men to southern
California, ana buys or leases genuine
old Spanish mission for dramatic pur-
poses. Historic events are staged
IN the very spot where they occur
red. with costumes and equipment
reproduced with exact fidelity from
hose actually employed at the time.
No historical structure is safe from
the assaults of the moving picture
man. Recently an English company
reproduced a film drama Of the Mid
lie Agcs. the scenes of which We're
all in and about the historic Tower
IF London, and the British govern
ment authorities We're prevailed upon
10 permit the use of the actual tower
for tine occasion. When Sir Walter
;cott.s great romantic novel IVAN
roe" was dramatized for the movies,
me of the greatest peers of England
lent his ancient castle for the staging
Of the famous siege scene, in which
Front de Boeuf and Brian de Bots
Guilbert led their .rmored Norman
host with battle-ax and crossbow, to
The assault Of the stronghold which
Isanhoe and his archers We're defend
ing.
Not only in dramatic "thrillers" but
IN the representation of actual events
realism is the rule in the motion-pic-
ture world. Explosions and railroad
wrecks STAGED FOR the movie today
must be genuine explosions and &C
taal wrecks. No one has yet found
a way to reproduce for the movies the
Genes of such catastrophes as the
Omaha tornado or the Dayton flood by
any sort of stage effect, but beyond
a doubt the realism of the movies
will eventually include such scenes
as these Today tropical scenes are
actually staged in the tropics, while
the motion pictures taken by members
of Captain SCOTS Antarctic eXpedi-
ton are giving the people of the
whole world new and exact informa-
tion about the po,ar regions, Re
Gently one of the pioneer film CON
Germs sent a man to South Africa
with instructions to travel the entire
length of the Dark Continent, from
he cane to Cairo, and make notion pic
tura films of every phase of African
life and scenery, including the native
tribes and the beasts of the jungle,
while other operators are penetrating
into almost every other strange or I'M
explored corner of the globe riSklng
their lives in the effort to bring the
whole world to the patrons of the
movies.