FRENCH TERROR FOR THE FILMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18544, 18 August 1928, Page 28 (Supplement)

FRENCH TERROR FOR THE FILMS.

REALISTIC SCENE IN LONDON STUDIO. (Special to the “Star.”) LONDON, June 20. “Cxi’ me light and shade—gi' me drama,” the American director bellowed through his megaphone at the crowd. “Ready? This is the picture. Hit ’em, Jimmy (the lights); all right, Cyril” (the camera). A British film actor stood before the mob of “sansculottes” in the chamber of the National Assembly and denounced the aristocrats in violent but perfect French. His arms waved with Gallic gestures; his eyes rolled and glared with the heat of Latin passion ; his voice thundered and cooed with all the rhetorical play of the French tongue. English Story. It was an English story—“ The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel”— produced by a British company with British actors; directed by one of 1 fully wood's most accomplished film experts, and filmed in Cricklewood, a London suburb, yet the result was almost more Gallic than the French. Nearly four hundred “extras” in the rags and tatters of eighteenth century Paris packed the galleries. Each was more hideous than the other. The National Assembly was reproduced .to exact dimensions in cardboard and plaster. The rage of the “sansculottes” was startling and vivid. The brilliant colours of their ragged costumes—a touch that will be lost on the screen—were fascinating. The din of their voices, the glowering of unshaven men, the hoarse voice of the Public Prosecutor rising above the noise, created the perfect spectacle. For £>nce the film in production was greater • than the film complete. Mob Breaks Loose. Then came the climax. The mob broke loose. Down the galleries they streamed in hundreds, an irresistible human avalanche of rage. They swarmed over the tables; they hurled i out the jury; the Public Persecutor fled for his life; the Aristocrats were freed. The crowd streamed out of the chamber to look for Robespierre. A broad grin swept over the face of Mr T. Hayes Hunter, the director from Hollywood. “Gee, that was great. I've never seen or heard of a crowd that could lick this bunch.” Up came the megaphone. “That was fine, folks.” he shouted. “Now let’s do that again, and let’s do it a little better this time.”