The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-03-29
WAY DOWN EAST," FILM MASTERPIECE,
 AT THE JEFFERSON

In Way Down East" D. W. Griffith has achieved masterpiece of motion photography. lie took classic melo- drama and converted it into a film epic of rural life that is an extraordinary illustration of what can be accomplished when genius in producing play is com bined with the almost limitless possibil- ities of the camera. The Jefferson was filled last night with a crowd that fol- lowed this superb picture breathlessly to the end.
 We of the south, at any rate, have heretofore regarded Griffiths Birth Of a Nation" as his greatest photoplay. It is more spectacular and perhaps appeals more strongly to southern people, but Way Down East stands supreme in it's portrayal of tragedy, romance and villainy in rural setting. Mir. Griffith has amplified it. given it tremendous realism and a wealth of detail that was quite impossible on the stage. In this field the camera excels The cheap makeshifts of the theatre cannot com pare with old Mother Nature, and the camera can catch her in every mood. Nor can the art of the scene painter and the stage carpenter, no matter how skill ful they may be, ever approximate the realism of such a photoplay as MT. Griffith has made out of Way Down East"
 The photography is remarkable, parti- cuarly the storm scene, and the break
 ing up of the ice in the river where Alma is rescued by David Bartlett, is so thrilling that it leaves a spectator won Gering how such results were achieved. The camera and the fact that the story of this play touches the old elemental chords of human nature make 1t both graphic and powerful in it's appeal. When the final scene was projected on the screen at few minutes to Il o'clock, it was hard for one to realize that he had been sitting for nearly three hours in another world--the world of make-be- l!eve which, after all, sometimes seems more real than the one we live in.
 Among all the numerous characters who appear in this play there is not one who does not seem to be taken direct from rural New England at the period described in "Way Down East" Every type has been chosen with the utmost care. They not only look the parts they play, but they act them as well, and the result IS d pnOtOuTdfld lIldt JuotIiCo' oif the enthusiastic praise heaped upon the man who produced it by dramatic critics and the public.
 Lillian Gish has won a new triumph as Anna Moore Her fragile beauty and her ability as a film actress were never seen to better advantage. It must be a callous heart indeed that is, not moved deeply by her impersonation of Anna. All the other characters are faithfully interpreted. Richard Barthelmess as David Bartlett Lowell sherman as the villain Lennox Sanderson; Kate Bruce as Mrs. Bartlett, Burr Mcintosh as Squire Bartlett, Vivia ogden as Martha Perkins,, Porter Strong as Seth Hoi- comb, Edgar Nelson as Hi Holler, George Neville as the constable, Creigh- ton Hale as the professor, Emily F1tz- roy as Maria Poole, Mary Hay as Kate Brewster and many others have con tributed some of the finest photoplay acting that has ever been seen in America.
 Way Down East will be at the Jeff ferson all this week.