THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 235, 2 October 1916, Page 9

THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

-3__-TC6_______ D_L___L__ _i ■—-& isoi moving pictures in the __r__rv sense of tne word that held __. haiaei the --robbing _3_erest of ti_e audience wh-.-h -viewed - Th? Birth _ a ISatirn - at __£__. Majesty's Theatre en Saturday night. It was humanised gxgatness 02 Aoe Linco-in so iocuj__sed as xo jßn__i_ta_e its tremendous national efect "U _ac warring elements of A~—-izs- less than half a century ago. Some ernacs have euk.jise- it as a pmns__e of phtare production, the longarrival oi soznethtog tha- 1 "will Stand a_ a classic ar_ong moving pictures as "The Merchant of Venice" m seems ground for such eulogy, in mat the subject is colossal, and is coin, tie C:v_ Was. the President's a_sTgesska by tne Ku __-u_: Ki._n secret sodsry. national reconstruction, and the j_tsi real United Stales, a.l within a perioi of ten or twelve years -am are bursting with dramatic possibilities. epoch-makl-ai: events marehrnj- to a granc nna ie within a _*er.<i.c. that e__-2_5 the "movie man" to work in the __—__ story ele~ent so ne-:-_-ssary to ii__o-__= __> t_:-ougn su_n suhjects, wnen is___died by the right man. must be rare encash to become classjcs. Vet Mr. p. W. GriSths. the producer responsible. tics -_e_ure is biileu as ~t__e picture of tie hour." and m:erent_a"7y it sterns there aj-e more 10 folio—, though, outside the tragic -____:_i. of tie Serb_ans. one csa only guess at 2 suig.e other sttfaciently spectacular hustling of history xhsx may g:ve -is an especially popular -sith dinsinnendo "_iw_ on -be Bnme" accomt'animent. B? that as :t "The Birth oi a Nation" proved to be all that ~as claimed fr>r :t- and one can easily believe that it cr€L3te_, a fjrore ;n the United States. Napoleonic in its national enneentiorj. the subject would appear too cj==i to 'ie reduced for a successful copuisr appeal, yet that that very ene-_t has been accomplishe-d was proved by thralled a larse and mixed a_-_jence on grand scale never previously approached. ___i the panoram:.- sr-?ctacle_- in the ____le scenes are thrilimgly impressive. %_£ so alternated -s_th aga:nst-the-eamera scenes that beyond the wonderful spectacle one rets shuddering views t& the grim horror of -s-arfare. views that must have bad a pamful fsjcinatiflsa for m tne theatre- A._ra__n. is tie Ktl Sins Klan scenes are vistas of 3_ps_-_nt]— th-oiisands of horsemen ___BBy_Bßg i_i *riis valleys, and chargiito baxcle in narrcr streets, while the b_crsen____=hip in many cases is superb:l2 dMineatrng great hj_.sr:.- events S3_i as the surrender o: Gvrjera! Lee and the assassination of Lmeoln. as in the most trifling domestic details, the same e_?or_ to 'make the picture worthy of the sdhieS is obvious, and wulle one can -~_2 believe that it cos: iIOO/VV. to T>ro-I_t_e the film, the dozens 0: distinctive feau_r_s obtamei that appeal variously to (fifferent patrons, and are yet ass- The whole thmg has the effect erf a tremendous historical drama, with a CB__i__B_t for A stage and its actors a patrons in the crystal of the lishxed screen, moving naturally to their partjcnlar __._ combined desttn-es. while vidTtals interpret the connected themes of two domestic and two love stories t__i_ inxermmgie with tbe naTne acting throughout- is wormy of i__ei_e. though from the nature of her pari in the cast as a pet sister of iovahie nature. Miss Mac Marsh is given eiief kudos hy the patrons, an-d it must of the most accomplished of the actresses that have made appea. from the "movies. - bem_. specially gifted in the matter of facial e_.z»res_._c__ Th~-e___-____rist_cs of the times and country, vie with the zreat s>ectac__s of __s pj___je in their a ppe—l to patrons: fie giory and bravery of ~ar are off-set and hartle bitterness are illamfnaaed: and oc_asionaliy a fash of 2u___out irradiates prevailim: pathos. «-_le there is zri-ch tha: is thrilling in cne scene. In which a 5-o-jthem blackEnith nghts a number of nesroe-s singi--_-____<_."there appears to New Zea_ind eyss to be a _ this res-_e.t which aa American _____t overlook- By the "*ay. one dhes an aimirahle education in the wherefore of the American .*___? of the negro wnile the fact _2at taoiisaiids of living Amer-cans have r<reolle<-t:ons of the terror? of tae Crril War also provides food for re_Ths Birth of a Xation" is nndonbtedly cne of the bin thinss. if not the "*s?2st t;___r. 3_ moving-..ict'dre enter--sp=es of to-day. It is so b._:- in fact. -Bfit its full s:gn_h-__nce and zrandeur «_n scarcely be comnrenenied "in one -ttting, despite it? entertainment auaiithe «____ and a matmee perfor=»*~«« _3 be given on Saturday.