UNREHEARSED THRILLS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14007, 11 March 1920, Page 1

UNREHEARSED THRILLS.

'ln the majority' of pictures nowvbeing exhibited'. : there' Is at;'..-letisst/ one great thrill that remains in oiie!s-ra(s- - after the film's details!have:'Veen forgotten. ■■' One. becomes excited and often afraid, lest some accident befall tlie actor. Many '"enlightened" folk will, attempt to allay anxiety by expiaiiiihg that the. thrill is 'j ust- : ''faked.'* ; This may, be tiue in many instances, ''.but';"' there-': are;- 'also, a; great number \\ here an actual "dare-devil feat is per- . formed. Few people appreciate what ;time and thoughts; these thrills -cbst the directors and producers, and to what; -expemliture they will "go just for a few' feet of celluloid.■ ' .-.:-' "*■ In a picture to be released very shortly Tom Mix. the Fox star, has a ueck-and-neck race with, a. j-ailway engine, which he finally lassoes,; and .by means of the rope climbs on the loco.-!' motive.- On' another occasion he rides • through a huge"Svindow, and this, feat was not accomplished without 'injury, owing to a projecting riafl'in the frame- ; •work: For another thrilla'portion of railroad was hired; an again an accident was just'averted through the presence of mind of a signalman,' .'. ■Some, time ago, during the filming of, "Out of the Air," a man had to drop from'an' aeroplane "to :V train. Both train and 'plane were,"travelling at about fifty miles anhoim The actor was suspended from a i-ope attached to the flying machine. The picture was taken' just a second before lie made, the drop.. . The ;least stumble or .miscalculation : would have meant death. Unrehearsed .thrillers are frequent, and in one picture, "The Revenge Of the Steeplejack." in which a wrestling bout took place at the 'top of a .two-hundred-lout chimney, one of the men lost his balance and tripped. Fortunately his foot caught between two boards' ol the platform, holding him there until the other man, at the risk of both, their \ives, reached him and pulled him back., I , Camera ltfen also take "great risks in I photographing thrillers. When a ThauJiouser serial, "The Twenty Million Dollar was being made., a train wreck was part of the story, and in order to get a good close-up view of ■■ the train at the moment it came hurtling over the embankment, the photographer placed his instrument within ■ rort'v feet of* the cliff. By so doing he nearly lost his life, for the boiler of the engine exploded, the camera was aimp.'-l ruined, and the man himself v.-a-; si-vcrely ihjured by the scalding water. But the precious film was saved. Although train wrecks are often faked ther,e are numerous instances where trains are bought and sent at full speed ! towards each other 'juht to make a real thriller. Men will crawl along snow-covered begins and swarm up ice-crusted ropes hundreds o: ! feet above the ground with an absolute disregard of danger and with no fearful sensations. Miss Hawley i s an actress who once volunteered. for the courageous role of a yeuno- woman who rescues a child .■from two snakes. The; pythons, one eighteen and the other twenty-four feat in length, were secrfred from a euvu.?. and'"the picture.was taken.with these reptiles coiled .round' the actress after she had saved her child. While she was receiving - the congratulations of the company, she was suddenly lifted off her feet. _ The larger of. the ■snakes was winding itself round her body/and crushing her to death! Only the presence of mind of the director a.vl one. or two actors saved her life:

' These are but a. few\.of-the- usual'occurrences in fflnirmaking. "When you ' j .\t see a thriller do not be too ready to condemn it as a fake. It might be the reed thing.