"ARMAGEDDON."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 3 January 1924, Page 2

"ARMAGEDDON."

A FILM OF PALESTINE

LONDON, November 15. Many interesting people attended the Hrst exhibition 01 ti:e him ''Armageddon" at the Tivoli Theatre, in the i Strand, opposite tiie New Zealand Go- { vermnent Office. These included Prin- j cess Mary Viscountess Lascelles, Vis- | coant i^isceiles, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, the American Charge d'Affaires, Sir James and Lady Alien, Genera! Sir lan Hamilton, Major-Gen-eral Sir G. Ashton, Colonel Ashley, M.P. (Under-Secretary- for War), Sir P. Cox, aud Sir H. d'*Egvule. The scenario of "Armageddon" wa.s written by Major-General Sir G. Ashton, with the assistance of General Sir Louis Bois, who was Lord Allenby's Chief of Staff. Tlie production has the full approval, of the Army Council. The film sets out to give r. comprehensive idea of Lord AUenby's campaign in Palestine, aud it is described as being a cunning representation of the real and the unreal, for it is made np of pictures that were taken of the actual operations, and of other views of events actually happening tut of camera range, which have been specially reconstructed foi- the benefit of the public. Mr F. G. Hurcomb, who was a sergeant in the 219 th Battalion London Regiment, and is now a platelayer at Kentish Town, is to appear at the Tivoli while the film is being ehov.-n to speak at the various performances. It was to him that the Mayor of Jerusalem surrendered the Holy City in December, 1917. The incident figures in the film, haying been reconstructed from material supplied by the ex-ser-geant (who also acted in the .--ceiie), and from the one photograph which was taken on the spot by a camera* which the Mayor had brought v ith him. Mr G. E. Jones, of the same battalion, is also to be present to help his comrade in. describing tho ,r.oidents in the film in which they actually took part. The result is altogether admirable, for it gives a pictorial record of the campaign that did so much to hasten the issue of the war, told both with accuracy and with vividness, and yet set forth in a way that is likely to grip the attention of the average audience. The Times says that those who decry the educational value of the film will, after a visit to this production, be compelled to admit that the cinema can be an admirable medium for conveying popular history to the masses, and, at the same time, they will be forced to agree that in this particular branch of art the film is head and shoulders above the stage. "Armageddon" is a simple picture of a great and true story that needs no adornment. The film has dramatic force, which is derived solely from the essentially dramatic and romantic nature of the campaign of movement and manoeuvre it depicts. I* is made un of | the official films taken during the campaign and of reconstructed incidents, such as the surrender of Jerusalem to a London Territorial soldier, and certain exploits for which the Victoria Cross was awarded, mingled with illustrations of the movements of the opposing forces by means of moving black and white pieces on a model relief map. The French official pictures, introducing the Arab horsemen mobilised by the Emir Feisa'l, are included, hy permission of the French Government. '■