Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-03-04
THE BATTLE CRY
OF PEACE" SHOWS
SCENE OF RUIN
Possible Result of Country's
Unpreparedness Shown at
Orpheum All Next Week

reace with preparedness, and power
behind that peace, are the keynotes of
1.-The Battle Cry of Peace" a film
propaganda to be shown at the Or
pheum Theater next week. J. Stuart
Blacllton wrote the scenario, Wilfrid
North directed the production, and
Charles Richman. an actor of many
parts on the legitimate stage in the
past twenty years, is featured as the
star"
Commodore Blackton has piled his
pen trenchantly. Ohsessed by the fear
that the United States. through pres
ent lack OF mobile army and an ade-
quate navy, would be at the mercy of
any invading power. he has laid his
preachment on pigment, or, to be up
TO date. on the screen, with heavy and
unsparing hand. He has secured sta
tiStics and reviewed page on page of
national history to impress upon the
people of this country that, in pro-
portion 70 the nations resources,
wealth and possible fighting force. we
are so meanly equipped and so Woe
fully unprepared to cope with and re-
sist invasion that our position as q
nation is ridiculous and portentious of
possible annihilation. In the third and
final section especially, in which alter
nate in quick succession statements
of prominent men, past and present:
statistics of comparison showing the
strength. military and naval of vari-
Gus foreign powers, and pictorial illus
tration of our present prosperity and
what might happen TO ruin it, Com
modore Blackton gives evidence of the
sincerity of his efforts and of the tire
1essness of his labors to present in
effective fashion a nationwide warn
ing against falsely based feelings of
security.
With the collaboration of the Sec
90 u NV Nf 10 1A hoe oh 10
to secure authentic pictures of the
American navy in action: through the
aid of the nations leading military
officials he has been able to give on
the screen series of military align
ments. offensive and defensive. which
are inspiring in the extreme. And
through 1T all is the genius which has
enabled Commodore Blackton and his
couaborators to assemble these fea-
lures in dramatic sequence and to
make them point, ominously though it
be, the moral Of his tale.
The locale of The Battle Cry Of
Peace" is laid in New York The
scenes, in rapid sequence, show the
possible reduction of the metropolis to
ruins through the superior forces of q
nameless hostile force and by the inn
potency of the defending army and
navy. Woven in and out is slender.
very slender, story of Il wealthy man
VINO bclleNeS III pedGe Only ana is DlnQ
TO all warnings as 10 his country s
preparedness. In the end that man
and his family perish. and their ends
are not pleasant to see. The pictures
in themselves are splendid. the SEM
blance of the bombardment and de-
struction are wonderfully obtained,
and verisimilitude is heightened by
very effective accessories behind the
screen and by the orchestration sup
piled by a namelesS genius
No matter how elaborate may be q
film play in these days. the average
picturegoer insists on good acting. It
is to be found here with Mr.. Richman.
L. Rogers Lytton, as the spy of the
unnamed nation, Louise Beaudet.
Norma Talmadge. Harold Hubert, Lu-
ellie Hammill, That's Lawton. Joseph
kilgour. T.. NJ. Holland and many
others whose names and portraits are
we'll known to motion picture votaries.