Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-07-19
THE BIRTH OF A NATION.
Wonderful Film Packed Star Thea
tire to Capacity at Matinee
and Evening Perfor.
manCeS.

DEBORAH has had a fair week at
mosphere since Monday, when THE
Birth of a Nation" opened at the
Star, for five performances. The re-
serve seat sale had been on since
week ago Tuesday, but the advance
sale seemed to go slow, and it look
ed to the wise acres as if THE Birth
of a Nation would be a failure in
DEBORAH, but Manager Relf said,
wait, and see, you will find the peo-
pie scrambling for seats before the
films are shown" His prediction
was correct, for when the doors
opened Monday evening the Star was
packed from pit to dome, and the
admission prices ranged from $3.50
down to soc, the cheapest admission
price. Did the people pay the price?
We should say they did, and we are
thinking if $3.50 had been the price
they would have slipped the simo-
leums over.
Manager Relf of the Star has scor
ed big triumph in getting this film
to DEBORAH and instead of only run
ming it for three nights and matt
Inees he could have put it on for a
week and packed the house every
performance. People from all the
surrounding towns were here and the
city was clutted UP with automobiles
The weather has been ideal, and the
roads good, and automobile patrons
ATTENDED the attraction, who lived
many miles from DEBORAH. A few
years ago, five and ten cents was
thought plenty to pay for a picture
show, but times have changed, so
have the picture shows.
The last show will be given to-
night, and in the neighborhood of
1000 people will have seen the
attraction here. Some who attended
Monday, went back again yesterday.
THE Birth of Nation is a won
derful attraction in it's twelve reels
Of realistic spectacles. The excel
lent high class orchestra of %
pieces perhaps adds half the pleasure
of the picture, and the program lasts
for nearly three hours.
The film tells the tragic story Of
the undoings of the carpetbaggers
heaped upon the wrecked south at
the close of the great Civil war.
It's producers claim for it that it
is historically correct. It's title re-
fers to the building of a central,
federal government out of the loose
Ieonfederation of Independent states
which came into being with the war
Of the revolution and existed until
Lee surrendered to Grant and the
idea of state independence was
crushed. The story of the film deals
with the civil war period and with
the reconstruction period. The thrills
OF the first part include some won
derfully effective battle scenes in
which thousands on thousands of
men take part. The second part
shows the causes for the formation
Of the KuKluX Khan and when the
white clad clansmen begin their mad
rides to succor, to rescue and to
avenge, enthusiasm promptly rises
to the boiling point and Monday
nights typical and critical first night
audience, simply went wild and lived
right with the characters in the pic
ture, breathed with them and cheer
ed and applauded their very appear
ance. 1t was wonderful
1.-THE Birth of Nation" is not a
reflection upon any race. Like all
dramas it has its evil characters and
its misguided men. The evil ones
|ins'The Birth of Nation are most
ly the white carpetbaggers and the
grasping power seeking politicians
who used the crushed south for their
own vile purposes. A mulatto, the
abnormal product of the misguided
and unwise policy of his supposed
white friends, is the central charac-
ter about which the evil of the play
revolves, but aiding and abetting
him, up to the last minute, is the
powerful northern politician who is
the one really responsible for the
whole horrible situation. The part
played by the colored people is a
most natural one under the circum-
stances depicted in the film. They
behaved as the people of any other
race would have done under similar
circumstances. Some of them show
ed faithfulness and devotion that
could well be emulated by men of
all colors.
AS for the individual characters in
the plot, it is enough to say that
they measure up to the high stand
ard OF the film. Henry B. Walthall
and Lillian Gish have monopolized
the attention of the press agents
but mainly because they have the
leading parts. The others are not