New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-06
On the Screen
Hearts of the World" New
Griffith Picture, Scores
Big Success


World" there are certain r,o1oa;o.
winch always VIII mean certain per-
sons to US. For instance, we never shall
near "Connois-tu lie Pays" without
thinking of sweet Lillian Gish and Bob
pie Harron, the Girl and the Bow. peek
a-Boo" will always bring to mind +be
"Llttlest Brother and the air which
anna Held used to sing in her heydav.
ON, its lovely to be married" always
VIII mean Dorothy Gish, the Little
Msturber." N''''e
me orchestra had a wonderful wav
or introducing the characters in the
picture with their own special tunes
ana IL was most effective. To indicate
the various moods of these people the
same tune was played as dirge in
| minor key Or was syncopated. 1t NAV
nave been done before, but we mover
have heard it.
The Griffith picture had it's first pub
tic presentation last night at the Forty
fourth Street Theatre.
Beng comparatively new in the mo-
clon picture world we never had seen a
Griffith picture before, but, of course
every one has heard Of the Griffith
girls and the Griffith spectacles, which
are different from all else on the
screen.
1t isn't that the Griffith picture has
more guns in it than any other war
picture. 1t isn't because it shows life
IN the trenches as it is, for all motion
picture houses show authentic war
pictures IN their reviews 1t isn't be-
cause the photography and the ex-
terlors are wonderfully beautiful. nor
because the cast is we'll chosen and
the story interesting
1t IS because every character in the
play is real. Either Mr.. Griffith has
genius for selecting his casts or else
ne has the power to infuse in his
actors something of his own genius
but whatever it is they give it back
again to the people who watch their
shadows on the screen, and it is a thing
not to be analysed
Dorothy Gish as the Little Dis
turber' does quite the most delightful
bit of character acting that it ever has
been our good fortune to witness
She is wilful and truculent and de-
hant and brazenly coy. and the emo
tons are registered on her saucy little
face with the rapidity of lightning. A
flash and it is gone
Just as though she had been playing
her part on the spoken stage, her en-
frances and exits were GREETED with
rounds of applause
Lillian Gish as "The Girl" was quite
as clever in an entirely different sort
Of role. She is a combination Of all the
Gr,ffith girls who have gone before.
Robert Heron did some remarkable
work in the role of Douglas Hamilton,
The Boy, and little Ben Alexander was
the sweetest child the screen has ever
offered. In the last horrible scenes,
when his limp body was discovered
under the ruins of his home, a sigh
went up from the spectators, and then
they found that he was only fast
asleep.
Robert Anderson is another one who
IS able to make you understand every
thing that person like Monsieur
Cuckoo is apt to think. in love or war
There was not a Earring note in the
whole performance, and the actual war
scenes were woven in so cleverly that
1t was impossible to tell whether one
was gazing on real emissaries of the
devil or on supers dressed up in he'll
NETS to represent the Hun hordes. At
any rate, the spectators would take no
chances, and they Kissed loudly every
time German or a pseudo German
came within range Of the camera.
The story tells Of two American
painters who live in France. The Girl
Marie is the daughter of one painter
and Douglas the Boy is the oldest son
comes home from school and the two
children fall in love with each other
Just because they are handsome and
young and the buds are bursting
The Little Disturber, too. falls in
love with Douglas, and we felt then
and there that if he could resist her
he was going to be able to resist any
temptation he might encounter during
his natural life.
busy making her wedding gown, and
Douglas and all of the weethearts and
hus bands of all the women march ava Y
to battle
Then comes the story of the war.
with it's scenes which are so much
more real than anything which has
been done before.
The picture shows the terrible strug-
gle for existence by those who are left
behind in the devastated villages and
the cruelty Of the Huns to the women
and children. who are compelled to
work in the fields.
Lillian Gish does some wonderful
work in her scenes when she wanders
out into No Mans Land to look for
her Bridegroom, and. not realizing that
he is dying, she falls exhausted beside
iiiHl anu licS GOWN WIN ncI nedQ on
/ his heart, which has ceased to beat.
The happy ending for the central
figures does not make the story seem
unreal, for it all comes about so
naturally and there is SO much that is
sad and grewsome. But through it all
was the glad feeling that it was not
their war, but our war, and when the
swarms of heavy Germans fell on our
boys in the trenches and attacked them
I with bayonets and the butts Of rifles
there was not a man-no,nor woman
in the theatre who would not have
given his or her life to have killed
one Of the Huns. That is what a Crit
fifth picture does to you.
Mr.. Griffith finally appeared in an
swer to the applause at the end of the
picture, but he stopped in the middle of
his speech and left the stage without
finishing his sentence. He thanked
those present and asked them to sup
port with their last ounce Of strength
the men fighting in the war. H. U.