GREAT PHOTO SPECTACLE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 16796, 2 November 1916, Page 6

GREAT PHOTO SPECTACLE

"THE BIRTH OF A NATION."

'The Birth of a Nation," D. W. Griffith's great masterpiece of film art, which will be screened at His Majesty's Theatre , under the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., direction, commencing on Montiay next, has occasioned more wonder among theatre and picture patrons than anything that has yet been produced. It is a gigantic subject handled, in a big way. The story runs clearly along—and it is powerfully told and convincing theme—with a background of violent happenings. Civil was is perhaps the most disastrous evil that can afflict a people, and D. W. Griffith depicts it with terrible directness. But to the average spectator fche period of reconstruction is even more thrillingly illustrated. Here /jlack and white are in conflict, and the blacks are the dominating force. They liave the legislature in their command. On© generation removed from savagery, the power wielded by the negroes went to their heads. The organisation of the Ku Klux Klan,, of Scottish origin, resulted. D. W. Griffith shows the heroic doings of this body of whites banded together, assuming "the white man's burden." The way the clansmen clean up the job is one of the most inspiring sights ever shown on the screen. In "The Birth of a Nation" Griffith uses 4000 night riders, and there is a thrill in their dashing horsemanship every time they make their appearance. The above incident represents only oik> of the innumerable sensational and historical incidents in the production. Specially composed music will be played by a grand operatic orchestra. The picture cost over £100,000 to produce. It ran for 862 performances in the Liberty Theatre, New York, with prices ranging from <>s down. At the Drury Lane Theatre, London, it is now in its eighth month of consecutive screening, with prices from-10s 6d down. In Sydney it ran for 132 performances, and is now paying a. return visit there, the prices ranging from 6s down; Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane have also been .■isited with magnificent results. ■ Notwithstanding the prices charged elsewhere, the J. C. .Williamson management have decided to charge popular prices here, which will range from 2* down. The box plan.is now open at Allden's Book Store, the Avenue.