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Show , ' A , i , . ' g y s -H , p - . i- t. v . ' x " . ( i j. ": 1 , r i " N r I f iv s - f r" U ! r . , 4 "i-v - ' 1 f - t - ' V i !' ' , K ' ' - 4; . , J j - '''- ' .. V"" " . ; ; j i 1 ' i : "I David W. Griffith, Producer of "The Birth of a Nation" j The magnitudeof David W. Griffith's Grif-fith's feat in staging "The Birth of a Nation" is almost appalling at least to the devotees of the older forms of theatrical entertainment. Where now are the little groups of actors, the pinchbeck scenery and the petty properties of the so-called "legitimate" drama? By comparison compari-son with the new art. the "legitimate" "legiti-mate" measures to the mountain like a molehill. Instead of scenery for his fiaekpround Griffith has used nature. For subject he has covered ISO years of American life and history. his-tory. Eighteen thousand people have done his bidding and in the hair-raising hair-raising rides of the Ku Klux Klon throe thousand riders and horses sweep over the dusty roa.ls. Xo wonc-r that this magnificent i historical spectacle is the talk of the country. It has established an en-; tirely new art in the realm of the theatre the art of pantomimic; screen spectacles with a musical j score perfectly synchronized to the i ; action. It has also created a tre-I mendous sensation because of- its vaster and more forceful treatment i of the theme of Thomas Dixon's "The ; Clansman," which both as book and play created the greatest furore of the last decade. The great deeds of the Civil War and the horrors of Reconstruction are made to live again and the nation na-tion reborn is apothesized. Mr. Griffith, pioneer among directors, managed this stupendous achievement achieve-ment without the aid of dialogue or speech, for motion pictures with mu-I mu-I sic effects tell vividly this thrilling j tjle of fifty yc-ars ago. |
