Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-09

VIII IllS
first great photoplay, "The
Birth of a Nation" is to
produce screen story of the life
of Abraham Lincoln is especially
interesting at this time. Walter
Huston, it is understood, will have
the leading role in the new Lin
coin film, and others of the cast
have not been announced. Nor
is there any special information
at hand as to the plan of the
Lincoln picture, whether it will be
based upon any special book-life
of the great Emancipation or
whether it will be a new" story,
gathered from a number of
sources.
Mr.. Griffith will have little diff
ficulty in gathering splendid ma
terial for his picture story of the
Civil War President. One of the
newest and most interesting
books on Lincoln, written by Emil
Ludwig, is called a "full-length
life of the martyred President
from his obscure beginnings to his
tragic end" Other well known
books of Lincoln have been writ
ten by Beveridge, Sandburg, Tar
bell and the distinguished English
author, Lord Charnwood. The life
at Lincoln was filled with what is
known to photoplay producers as
color; the background of the
him can become a mass of pic
torial and historical material; the
minor characters of such a story
can be made into real characters
of the screen. This film story of
Lincoln should, with the master
handling of Griffith, become an
outstanding and valuable contri-
button to history and the art of
the screen.
All this brings to mind the pos
Sibility of producing other pic
lures Of similar character. That
is, the stories of great men and
women of our Nation. Such life
stories as those of George
Washington, Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson and others on
down to the present day are filled
with the best sort of material for
good photoplays. The lives of
these great Americans were not
cut-and-dried affairs, but real
adventure stories of real people.
They are colorful to an extreme.
First-claSS, we'll studied pictures
of such a character will do much
for the art of the camera, or, If
you prefer, the wonderful motion
picture industry.
THE 10 best pictures of the past
year, selected through poll
by Film Daily, are as follows:
'Disraeli," broadway Melody"
Diggers of Broadway" Bulldog
Drummond," I'm. Old Arizona"
1.-THE Cock-Eyed World" "The
Last of Mrs. Cheney" and Halle
lujah."
The poll was the most extensive
ever, conducted, and it is claimed
to. be "a compelling reflection of
what the foremost critical minds
of America think of the motion
picture offerings during 1929"
The voters are stationed in 43
States and 212 cities, and the re-.
suit of the ballots, lis usually
watched pretty closely by the
Hollywood producers.
X \
ALTHOUGH the biggest future
feature of the movies is held
out as the wide screen and the
wide picture, no special progress
is being made along this particu-
lar line. It has been announced
that four of the major picture
house chains are planning and in
stalling the wide screens, but the
producers are showing no special
inclination to make the wide films.
There is no intention to panic"
the industry, as surely happened
when the sound pictures jumped
into the field. Up to the present
date only few pictures are def
nitely set for wide-film produc-
ton, and these are largely expert
mental in objective. A general
distribution of the big pictures
is an event of the future-prob-
ably not this year or next.
\ ~
A new personality flashes upon
the serena personality
HAANAA may NC 41OOAICu W d 1dI &c
extent in the days to come. It
is reported that the actress pos
sessing this special personality
has signed a contract to appear
in four pictures, and for this Serv-
ice she is to receive a half million
dollars. Considering some of the
salaries paid some of the other
pIayerS-and, also, considering
the personality already displayed
in the first picture of the four
this actress will not be overpaid,
even at the high cost of movie
stars today. If she keeps up her
good work-and there is little
doubt of this, for she is a hard
worker, an enthusiastic star-She
will become the outstanding artist
of the singing-dancing pictures.
Her first picture, in technicolor,
simply gives a hint of what may
follow.