THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

Evening Star, Issue 16225, 21 September 1916, Page 6

THE BIRTH OF A NATION.

It is difficult to write soberly of tho stupendous spectacle disclosed-at His Majesty’s Theatre last nignt. ‘ The Birth of a Nation’ is certainly tho most tremendous study in picture dramaturgy yet exposed to tlie public, and tho most inveterate, the moat hardened ’’ movie fan ” will leave tho theatre stirred and moved, and wondering (when -the boom of 11 p.m. strikes his- our as he reaches the pave-menl).--who lias been turning the clock ahead. It is a wonderful thing that Mr ,D. W. Griffith has done with Dixon’s novel. He has ivconstituted the whole heart-shaking tragedy of the American Civil War. The thing is epic in its concaption, epic too in its realisation. As from an antechamber we see down that long bloodstained corridor of years during which the Southern States, beaten to tbeir knees, lay prostrate under the dark and monstrous tyranny of a debauched and lust fill negro populace. This is the really poignant section of the picture. Magnificent and roulist-ic as is tho first part, envisaging the savage internecine battles between North and South, tlie real, scorching tragedy begins with tho death of Lincoln—reconstructed'with marvellous verisimilitude—and the deliberate sacrifice oi tho South to the negro. The story is epitomised in the fate of one family—the Camerons. Two sons have l>een killed in tho war, one (Colonel Ben) returns wounded, to find tlie town already dominated by tlie negroes, organised by a mulatto. Silas Lynch, the protege -of the Northern politician, the Hon, A. Stoneman. The reign of terror reaches its climax when Cameron’s youngest sister is pursued by Gus (a renegade negro), and is compelled to s--ek the sharp antidote of death to save honor- ’’ From this stage climax is piled on climax, and the action becomes tumultuously fast. We see the inception of that grim white band of horsemen, the Ku K!ux Klan, who exacted such summary vengeance for black outrages that them ramo still stands for something even more sinister than tho evil they banded to ern-sh. They number thousands, and when, finally, the mulatto Lynch throws off the light’ yoke of allegiance to Stonenum, seizes the latter’s daughter Flsio, and takes control of the town, the Kkm gather silently for the last fatal encounter. There follows the big heart-stirring phase of tiro drama—the gallopi of these thousands -for the town, in one room of which a tragedy of Just is approaching its dreadful culmination. The mulatto holds a senseless girl in his grms, when the thunder of the great body of horsemen causes him to lift his head. Follows tho crack of rifles, and through the window he sees his people melt away before tho white-robed avengers. A moment later the. door is burst bodily in. Lime is in the arms of her lover (Colonel Cameron), and the mulatto sees his end. ’lbis very imperfectly describes the drama.. It were possible to write as much of each of the many motifs that are woven into its pattern. Suffice it to add that two vitally interesting and stirring love stories run their course lo a, happy termination, and that the clash of human, emotions is as compelling as tho clash of national passion in which tho spectacle finds its birth. Among the lug scenes are tho last rally of the confederates, tho assassination of Lincoln, the dreadful chase of the girl Flora, and her desperate leap to death, the wild ride of the clansmen, the savage bout at fisticuffs between the blacksmith Jeff and the negroes in the saloon. Tho acting throughout is masterly, the producer bringing inio one cast such artists ns Henry AAalthall (Colonel Ben Cameron), Miriam Cooper (Macgaret Cameron), Mac Marsh (Flora Cameron). Lilian Gish (F-l-d-e Stonemaul. and George Seigmann (Silas Lynch). The music, too. is correctly attuned to each, phase, of the play, and is well plavcd by a full orclKvtra. Here is a spectacle that transcends anything Dunedin picture patrons have seen. As onr American cousins say. “ Go to it.” It will ho shown this and every evenino-.