Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-20
ANOTHER FILM PLEA
FOR PREPAREDNESS
"Womanhood," at the Chestnut,
Discloses Artistic Qualities and
High Dramatic Aim

wnMANHoop on THE dfoRY or \ MA
TioN' TtG Nit1srsnh pnotonlay IT, seven n2rts
Elackton Directed hy Mr.. Blaokton. Chest
nut street Opera House.
Commodore Blackton is a man with an
idea both fixed and furious--that thc United
states must prepare" 70 impress this
on the public u,nd he Is evidently willing
TO do anything, even to produce and present
so trivialy improbable n picture as The
Battle Cry of Peace" But the fruit Of his
passionate patriotism has ripencd at last
In photoplay that has dignity, artistic
balance, human grip and tragic propulsion,
In addition to statistics and closc-ups of
Theodore Roosevelt.
The Commodore has beaten his own game.
For "Womanhood' IS about four times as
interesting as "rhe Battle cry" aud four
times -four 'mcs ~ handsome in visual APP
peal, in realistic sense, IN dramatic value
II you can stomach The propaganda and the
slight jcrlliucss OF the story which the
propaganda involves, you can be assured
of a rich two hours of thrill and emotion at
the Chestnut.
Tho Commodore, new knowledge of the
siucwa Of photopa,. as routras'Cd with its
| nabby cNtcriorlty. 80 striking and pleasant
to record He stu puts the loud pedal on
/ physical agony n IL cruelty; ne now and
| then let's his sense of situation override his
reasoning faculty. Hut he has como to un-
derstand that a douhlc-print Of the Maid of
| Orleans. cxqusitcly realized in spirit and
tone, may mean moro than n million march
l. a,,1 fs,ts al
practically. the Cavcll case, and make the
| parallel bitter. moving aud beautiful with
! feeling for the brutality of life and the
| healing halms Of art and pity. lie may
not have the eye for spacious landscape
that makes a Griffith pre-cminent or the
animally vigorous stab of incident that lifts
an Iuce from the rut of the everyday. But
he knows now, now to clothe his argu.
mcuts in vivid. wild sentiment and his de.
| nuuciations of pacilsts, anarchists and hy.
phcuatCs i'm the Euisc of the actual The
result is tremendous gain over all his
| former sNcctaclcH. lie will lecture us. bu
he lectures us through our'cycs as well as
our brains.
To"hars tho finest moment in Woman
hood IS the death ny unjust execution o
the girl who has been melting American
to arm themselves. She Is shot by "Ruri
tanian" soldiers "Ruritauia" being TN
name used to cloak the nation invading thi
| country. lnCfe are Olncf moments OF al
most equally true tragic import, ana many
many others I'm which the actors put acros
unlikely situations. The east that the di
rector has chosen is almost fault-proof-
the manly, unhaudsome Morey; the delicate
featured, finely expressive Miss Joyce; tn
impctuous Morrison the pretty Miss Hy
land the sinister calm kilgour Nor d
they work with the handicaps that con
frontcd the company of THE Battle Cry.
Not cloth drops, not obviously faxed nigh
scenes. but the impressive and real forl
the standard of production. Sometimes tn
argumentative spirit takes from the actor
, a bit of their poise. not often. 1t u.s. all /
all film quite worth the time and none
asked. And the ear is not neglected. eithe
Yesterday afternoon Burr Mcintosh. one
a good histrion and photographer. spok
for preparedness. Last night the CommC
dore and the Rev Mr. Brady did so. Bu
their film spoke louder than they did,
Il. -