The Washington herald., 1918-07-28

ture; but. II anything, the inventor
has deserted his inventions. He uses
tho 'cut-back" sparingly, and the
closeup only two or three times.
when the dramtic action is at Its very
height. 1t II q restraint that counts.
What q pity that he doesn't extend
that restraint to the bloody bayonet-
ting of soldiers and to the blowing In
half of old men before our eyes.
'cMr. Griffith takes very distinct Is
sue with Mr.. Ince and q great part
Of the cinema world over the matter
Of sub-titles. In the frst half-hour
Of his new film there is only one spo-
ken subtitle, while there are yards
-and yards Of long descriptive ones.
ELIMINATION OF the word has long
been the obvious ideal OF the movies
, since the first Mr.. Ince has tried to
reduce the sum total by using, as far
as possible. only those words abso-
lutely necessary-which are In general
those used for dialogue. Mr.. Grifith
reduces the sub-titles which really
should be reduced. those that inter-
fere with the action, the spoken dia-
logue. To do this, he loads into long
descriptions at the beginning Of new
scenes enough explanation to get
around any lack OF clearness in the
subsequent action. There Ia q double
result First of all. the scenes flow
more rapidly and smoothly: second,
We use our inagiation more keenly.
As the story races along, our minds
eagerly keep pace. interpreting the
expressions and actions Of the players.
and watching for the emotions which
the AaaPrfnffnr 4.
somewhat the same honest effective
ness in this policy of Mr.. Grifith's as
In Mr.. Wells habit of telling Us of
the tragic, or significant denouement
before the preliminaries have been
sketched
Back of all this. in Mr.. Griffth's
new film Is a vital essential of the
movies-naturalistic acting. More
than any other director, he eliminates
the appearance of plan, the striving
for effect. He tries to make his ac-
tors live their parts. not act them,
and, to a surprising extent, he sue
ceeds- The Griffith camera Is simply
visual eavesdropper. a peeping Tom.
In the early and blessedly naive days
OF the movies, the inexperience of the
director achieved something of this
enect, because these men didn't know
how to plan or what to plan for. They
simply made the actors 90 through
some incident, and tried to place the
camera where it would get the most
Of It Between the pictures of these
men and those of Mr.. Griffith stalks
the arrant theatricality of cinema ac-
tors facing imaginary footlights.
Somewhere along the line Of progress
back to nature are the productions of
the skillful Mr.. Ince. full Of planned
out groupings always emphasizing the
effectiveness of a scene-which Is not
infrequently the wrong way to achieve
an effect
'Tt is such technical matters-possi-
bilities, failures and achievements-
that first and finally interest the prac-
ticed movie-goer who submits himself
to the nerve-racking business Of sit
ting through Hearts of the World"
From the reports In hand It seems
certain that at least one of the
Broadway managers has decided def
nitely not to Join with Florenz Zieg-
field in his war upon the spectators.
A. II. Woods has sold for the tidy
sum Of $4,000 cash practically all the
lower floor seats and three rows In
the balcony Of the Hudson Theater to
the dear old specs, which means that
so long as the run Of Friendly Ene-
mics" continues as prosperously as It
mas started there will be but compar-
atively few Of the better seats sold
either at the box ofice or at box office
prices.
Which Is as the people, apparently.
would have It, and the managers also.
And they are the Interested parties,
Meantime Mr.. Woods Is doing what
ne can to play fair with everybody.
He has bought and installed 10000
tons Of ice in the Hudson Theater
cooling system. which. - l6n
weighed by the scales
uses. would take up MOI II were
600 the spectators PAID Iv ice man
Fl Of the sSo'-
Henry stephensox
company when u
irst % sttrsstion Ss,ssg h VIII i,e . N ths tSs
st.r - noI,aS kne Cowl opens ss rse
I'M. Leaier ,,aT bv the
ouced AZ t1 ~. dcsert called Tn
On IN tho vrasr- It will be pre-
ke Palace. with Sns.'