The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-11-13
METRO FILMS GREAT
SCENE OF BATTLE
Colossal Perturbation of "The Four
Horsemen Of the Apocalypse"


Towers. turrets and tons of solid
masonry went down in awesome havoc
with the filming Of the final Marine
battle scenes for Metros colossal pic
turization Of 1.-THE Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse" by Vincente Blascc
Tbanez. in the picturesque foothills Of
the San Barnardino Mountains Of
southern California.
The bonbardment that resulted in
razing a great stone castle and sew
eral adjoining structures came as a
spectacular conclusion to a series Of
similar scenes that have drawn thou
sands of visitors to the Metro loca-
ton for several weeks. The lombard
ment of the castle, with its ensuing
wreck, was in exact reproduction of
the final outburst from artillery that
concluded the second Battle Of the
Marine.
A precedent was established in film
making when. after the last mine had
been exploded, sending masses of
earth and debris into the air, it was
found that not a single casualty had
occurred among the two great armies
Of players during the picturing of the
entire production. That 1t was pos
sible to reproduce what doubtless was
the greatest military engagement in
the history of the world without in
jury to any of the participants is due
to the mechanical appliances used by
the director, Rex Ingram-some of
which were invented for use in THE
Four Horsennen" only
A telephone system involving the
use Of twenty operators, telegraph
communications and a siren whose me-
tallic voice could be lifted above the
roar of battle at any moment, were
used for the giving of all orders Be
cause of their use, not single mine
was exploded prematurely-a species
Of accident that in the past has often
been the cause of wholesale injuries
among film players appearing in such
productions.
Immediately after the conclusion of
the battle scenes, Mr.. Ingram and
June Mathis, who prepared the pic
ture version of the world famous
Ibanez novel, marshaNed their forces
for the interior scenes that were taken
in the enclosed stages at Metros west
coast studios in Hollywood. For these
scenes the interior of the castle that
was wrecked on the mountain loca-
ton was reproduced, even to the
mechanism Of a great pipe organ. The
organ, along with much heavily carved
furniture-some of which was import
ed from France to be used in the pic
ture-was wrecked by shell fire in or
Il, ~,
the final shots for the production were
taken.
Fifteen directors worked as aids to
Director Ingram in staging the repro
duction of the Battle of the Marine
Because of the magnitude of the task,
Mr.. Ingram sought not assistant di-
rectors. but experienced men who had
served as directing heads of great
productions. Each of the men at
tached to his staff was chosen because
of his unquestioned ability to lead.
For several weeks previous to the
starting of the battle scenes, Mr.. In
gram and his assistants went over the
plans and not a detail was overlooked.
1t is probable that the most efficient
body of men ever organized for pic
tGre purposes resulted from these early
conferences.
All the assistants were dressed in
French uniforms, making it possible
for them to mix with the army without
appearing conspicuous in the picture
Some Of them We're mounted on horses
and each man had a specific thing to
do Before the start of each scene
they were called together and given
instructions as to their particular du-
ties On the first day Of the battle
scene not a single re-take was neces-
sary.
Colonel Starret Ford, who served in
France with the American army, and
Walter Mayo, We're Mr.. Ingram's chief
assistants. Fourteen motion picture
cameras and three "still" cameras were
used to record the scenes. The big
battery of cameras was placed in
every available nook and corner Of the
French village and castle which made
up the setting for the picture.
One of the highly interested spec
tators present on the Metro location
during the filming of the spectacular
Marne battle scenes was ''Ty'' Cobb
the Detroit baseball star. He was in
Los Angeles on a visit and accepted
Director Ingram's invitation to wit
ness the spectacle. Tyrus appeared tc
be vastly impressed.
THE -Four Horsemen" opens an en-
gagement at the Isis theatre tomor-
row at 2:15.