Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-10-19

Screen TraEedy-D- W. 1TlI-
fifth. the cinema master, has demon
strated that tragedy can be
made for the screen and prove
other than financial failure His
demonstration was made with Broken
Blossoms, remarkable photoplay
. production that is not only tragedy.
but one of the most relentless bits or
4, dramatic realism ever filmed Utterly
devoid of the So-called happy end
ing" which producers claim must be
incorporated into production to
make it success, with a story I'M
lighted by the sunshine of happiness,
save here and there, and its climax
the death of it's three leading char
acterS. yet Broken Blossoms has
proved a financial success. Able critics
have waged war of words for and
against the picture. But great audi
ences in New York, Boston. Phlladel-
pnia and Chicago have paid the high
est picture admission prices to see 1T.
Griffith first showed Broken Bios
SONS" in a little southern California
town. and his critics predicted fiat
failure. No story could live, they
father and her lover all meet untime-
ly deaths of violence. Nor could MIR.
Griffith. they commended. devise and
picture a Chinese-Aryan love story
that would not offend its occidental
audiences.
These doleful predictions were
ignored. Broken Blossoms" opened at
the George NJ. Conan Theater. and the
demand for seats soon sent the price
to So. 1t ran there for weeks, and
then it moved into Boston for like
success. New prints were sent to Chi
cago and to Philadelphia, with the
same result.
Washington will have it's first OPP
portunity this week to pass judgment
upon this remarkable photoplay. Is 1t
the high art and has it the literary
merit that has been claimed for it by
one school of enthusiastic critics, or
is it an atrocious bit of iniquity, as
claimed by others. who condemned it
with bitterness?
Real and Imitation. - Photography
certainly has more than kept pace
with the development of the filmed
story. A prevalence of dual imper-
sonations" during the past season was
possible only through the almost I'M
believable trickery of modern pho
Biography, while aerial scenes are cas-
lily obtainable by virtue of improved
lenses and clever devices not known
to be safe a decade ago. And with
this development has come, of neces-
sity, the task of making limitations
real Few directors nowadays permit
the stimulation of a scene that can be
secured in its actually. Not all de-
Gu oNChCS, HO"CNcI, WltHiH
reach. Recently an obscure Balkan
kingdom was erected in California for
a Fairbanks picture. II looked real.
Few knew whether it was or not. be-
cause the great majority of picture
patrons have not been privileged to
make an intimate study of Balkan
ngdoms. The reproduction of the
heart of st. Petersburg, made at great
expense for Geraldine Farrar, SINH
larry approximated the genuine scene
as far as the majority of spectators
ran slight risk of being checked up on
Inaccuracies or anachronisms in scenes
so far from home Maxwell Karger.
one OF the directors on the west coast
however, has dared a feat of this kind
Mr. karger wanted for swagger shop
scenes in his perturbation of the Hat
tons Lombard. Ltd" was one block
OF the most fashionable part of down.
town 9TH avenue. New York was 5000
miles away. he recalled, and railroad
fares not so low as they might be.
even for actors in trainload lots. So.
ne decided to move 5th avenue from
rev York to Los Angeles. 1t was ac-
comphshed by one of the great feats
1or winch modern stagecraft is no.
table In the finished picture 5tb ave-
nue. unreels itself with every familiar
touch OF the smartest thoroughfare on
tne continent. Even the 5th avenue
buses lumber by with their swaying
ioads or top-deck commuters. 1t is
not so remarkable that scenes of un-
familiar places can with impunitv
De simulated for brief photodramatic
purposes, but when stagecraft has
reached a point where in car conao
IDENTITY defy discrimination between
me real and the imitation in picturing
perfectly familiar localities. so as re
1901 the fans, it suggests wonderful
home? why ieaVe