Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1916-05-05
mittee. He has wide acquaintance
among the attorneys OF. Nebraska, Iowa.
South Dakota and Minnesota.
BIRTH OF A NATION
Al The Morris Grand Theatre Tomorrow and
Sunday

'>' '"e MurTiS urano Theatre Tomorrow and
Sunday
David w. Griffith's most extraor-
binary achievement with his new photo.
spectacle "The Birth of q Nation"
coming to the Morris Grand theatre
Saturday and Sunday, May and Z, is
that of making history live. He has
touched the high peaks of American
hlstoEy-the introduction of slavery.
'he war OF Secession, the surrender
AZ Appomatox, the death of Lincoln.
the miseries of reconstruction and the
restoration of the south to it's own.
Ihese things, it would have seemed a
year ago, were beyond the motion
picture camera The master producer
had the faith of an enthusiast. Within
l2,ooo feet of oelluloid tilm he has sue
sessfully combined a thrilling, plaus-
lole and dignifled presentment of
national upgrowth with real and
human love story based on Thomas
Dlxohs book'romanoe, "The CLANS
man." AS it appears to the newspaper
and magazine critics, Mr.. Griffith has
not only surpassed the art of the tin
door" theatre. but be has also develop
ed new hrt-form far superior to the
old-style history or historical novel.
The best charaoteriz alton of It 90 far
Is that OF very eminent public man
who has called it "History by light
| ming"
Mr.. Griffith employed $4,000 people
in taking these historical pictures.
The battle scenes we're actual dupli-
oates of several of the OWL War con-
f1'ets, and so were the facsimilies of
important events. We see Lincoln
among his councillors issuing the call
for volunteers, Grant and Lee shaking
hands at Appomatox. the shot that
John Wilkes Booth fred, the Freed
mans Bureau, the carpetbaggers' ex-
oesses, and the famous riders of the Ku
Klux The realism is almost uncanny.
OFTEN the old war shouts are heard In
the audiences from the lips of veterans
who momentarily forget that it Is only
picture. 1t is hard to keep ones
feet from dancing to the we'll. beloved
tunes OF the martial music Scenes in
the latter half Of the pictures are so
skillfully managed that often the sp-
plause is practically continuous for
half to three quarters Of an hour.
"Cabria" and "Quo Vadis" marked
great steps forward in the screen
drama. The Birth of Nation" points
a still more wonderful development,
the old dramatic form having been
thrown away and the epic or historical
form substituted. The old reproach
against the "ten. cent movie" is for
ever removed.
1t is curious sight now in New
York to see dozens of speculators ask
ing three to four dollars for seat for
moving pictures, whilst inside at the
box-oft1ce the public gladly pays the
regular scale of prices at a fashionable
metropolitan theatre.
The labor involved in this newest
sort of picture-making is enormous.
There are 5000 seperate and individ-
ually posed scenes involving about
100000 interesting details. The must
Gal score is as complex and elaborate
as that OF any grand opera. Although
not word is spoken on the stage, the
musical and mechanical effects employ
a hundred flesh -and-blood helpers
nightly. In brief, the magnitude of
the stupendous Aim dwarfs the average
stage play into insignificance.
Theatrical producers and observers
are wondering what will be the next
evolution of the art. Will the cinema
replace the textbook in the public
schools? Will the Walter SCOTS and
the W. M. Thaokerys of the future do
pictures instead of novels? Will the
historian be replaced by the camera
man, and the still-ljfe painter by one
who, like Griffith, can turn out hund.
reds of Rembrandt, Carot and Turner
like scenes in an evenings entertain.
ment?
Some of these quaries seem daring
now, even grotesque. Yet, in view Of
what is happening around US, it is hard
to say, impossible-to set any limits to
the future achievements OF the motion
picture.
A Symbol of Health
, The Pythagorians of Ancient Greece