"THE FIRST WORLD WAR"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 7

"THE FIRST WORLD WAR"

EPIC FILM AT THE STATE THEATRE ,

Commencing its season to-day at the State Theatre is the stirring production "The F.rst World War," which has made for itself already an outstanding reputation.

The production has its origin in the recent book of the same title, compiled and edited by Laurence Stallings. It was a volume of authentic war photographs which, with the author's brilliant commentary, presented an uncensored and unvarnished history of humanity at war. Inspired by this, Fox Films have collected contemporary films from various sources and engaged Mr Stallings to edit them for this film. Very ably has he done his task, and the result presents to the audience films by cameramen of the warring nations on practically every front. The prologue commences in 1903 with intimate scenes of royal families of Europe. With the passing of the years military preparations become more and more intensive. The Kaiser salutes his goose-stepping armies; France builds new guns; Italy make* alliances but launches battleships. Then a bomb bursts in Serajevo and the flaring headlines of the world's press tell of the breaking of the storm cloud. Chapter by chapter the film unfolds the activities on the various fronts, and names once terribly familiar are heard again. There is the war in the Alps, the Dardanelles campaign, the detailed story of Jutland, the war under the sea, the war in the air, and the devastation and grim warfare in the trenches which stretched halfway across Europe. One is surprised by the closeness with which the camera followed the struggle. The human element is not overlooked, and interspersed with the battle scenes are sequences of the activities of the prominent men in the various arenas, homely snaps of the men resting and marching, and pathetic photographs of the human wreckage. The story concludes with the mingling of the combatants after the signing of the armistice. Then, with brilliant composite photography, art shown modern scenes which are terribly reminiscent of those with which the film commenced. The well-known actor Pedro de Cordoba delivers the commentary to the film with a wealth of pungent irony. Also shown on the programme will be "The Perfect Floor," a British mystery drama.