Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-11


ater ticket-and to a movie" at that!
Henry Ford found he could not
spare the time to go to the theater. so
he had the picture, prolog, actors, or
chestra, chorus and every other acces-
sorry, brought to him at Detroit for his
glory as the audience" 1t is not
recorded that he pictured himself as
the modern Mahomet. but that is vir-
tually what he was. He wanted to see
the picture-it was "Civilization"-
and it is rumored that as q result OF
seeing 1t he intends to nominate the
man responsible for 1t as a candidate
for the Nobel peace prize.
The man responsible is Thomas II.
Ince, and some idea of the range and
daring of his production may be gath
cred from q bare statement of some of
it's episodes.
Civilization" includes a succession
of scenes of great magnitude-battle
scenes, the sinking of an ocean liner
with men, women and children on
board; struggle between the COM
mander and crew of a submarine, and
the deliberate sinking of the submarine
by the suicidal act of the commander,
who browns all on board; a real fight
at sea between dreadnaughts and an
attack on the capital in the dead of
night by a squadron of airships.
The realism of the sea fight is quite
easy to understand, for it was actually
staged for the purpose OF this picture
by the United States Navy-an episode
for which many other film producers
had striven for years without success.
1t is customary for the Pacific squad
ron, in it's quarterly practice off Point
Iona, San Diego, to use as a target an
old discarded steamer or freight YES
sci. Mr.. Ince agreed to substitute for
this purpose three ships, reconstructed
to resemble battleships, and agreed
also to pay for the torpedoes and
shells used in the sham battle. The
government agreed to provide two bat
tleships, two torpedoboat destroyers,
one cruiser and two submarines of the
H class.
The naval battle as staged for the
films actually lasted twenty-seven min
utes. Six hundred shots were fired by
the United States forces, and another
500 hundred were fired in the air by
hired motion-picture soldiers. OF the
500 shots fired by the navy men, each
carefully timed and placed, 92 per
cent. were effective. The shelling and
sinking of the three enemy ships takes
place in full view of the audience and
one ship is blown 500 feet into the air,
while all about the sea is tortured into
a thousand seething spouts.
The ammunition alone for this fight
cost Mr.. Ince $4,000, and this is only
a single item in a list of expenditures
that are staggering to the man who
works for a small wage. Sections of
entire cities, towns and hamlets were
especially constructed to provide seem
cry and atmosphere" for this ironical
| picture of the Civilization" of to-day:
| 10000 men and women, regiments of
cavalry and artillery, aeroplanes and
Zeppelins, armored motor cars, and
every contrivance of war known to the
| Iattr fvNp 90 Al
achieve spectacular thrills of a mo-
ment's duration. More than $4,000
separate scenes were photographed
and 100000 feet of film taken-the
entire production costing we'll over
100000 before it was ready for the
screen.
Mr.. Ince did more, however, than
to spend merely lot or money and
show his skill as a motion-picture
director in producing tremendous ef-
fects. He dared to run the gauntlet of
possible criticism on the ground of
irreverence by putting Christ into his
picture as living, moving. acting
personality as we'll as a dominant
spiritual force.
The picture has lits love tale, too
but the most distinctive impression of
the film upon human emotions is
registered" neither by the love tale
nor by the spectacular element, but
| Dy Ine nOmeiy pastoral IlaSneS at the
beginning and at the end. that light
up the joys and terrors, the trials and
restored happiness of the humble men
and women of Wredpryd, Mr. Ince's
| imaginary kingdom. 1t is in these
scenes that the film achieves the fur
ther distinction of employing the old
est and also the youngest actresses in
the "movies''-Mrs. Anna Perry, who
is SO years old. and who gives a most
realistic performance, and "Baby
Read" IS months old, who unques-
tionably gets closer to the hearts of
the audience than any other actor in
| the entire spectacle. The favorite,
Enid Markley. has q leading role