HISTORIC FILMS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 3

HISTORIC FILMS.

♦ NURSE CAVELL'S LIFE. "VICTORY"—A WAR EPIC. (from oca owx cosbespondest.) LONDON", October 4. On October 12th, the twelfth anniversary of Nurse Cavell's execution, Herbert Wilcox is to begin the production in Brussels of his film of her life. He is already assured of the assistance of the Belgian authorities, and he has found in Brussels such a wealth ot poignant memory surrounding the ] nam© of Nurse Cavell that at no point | will he depart from actual history. The harrative has been written t>y Captain Reginald Berkeley, and a play telling the story in stage form is now in preparation. In the last scenes of all (writes the film correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle"; Nurse Cavell, after the trial, is discovered in her prison cell, reading her Bible. Outside, in the guardroom, the German soldiers who are her warders have decided that they cannot shoot a woman They believe t here _ will be no execution. They are drinking and singing a drinking song. Presently there comes to the prison a priest. He is conducted to the cell. Nurse- Cavell sees him. She knows what his presence means. She speaks the one word, '•When?" The priest replies, "Dawn," the word which has been chosen as the title of the picture. Priest and nurse sit side by side. They sing together softly, '"'Abide With Me,"' the hymn of infinite comfort. At dawn, Nurse Cavell is led from the cell, and by motor-ear is taken six miles to the place of execution. Our worst criminals are not taken such a journev. Nurse Cavell spoke only once. She asked: "How much farther?" Arrived at what is now the military rifle range of Belgium, she was taken through a long corridor, lined with rifles of many ages. So. she came face to face with her executioners. She refused to have her eyes bandaged. The officer of the firing party gave the order, "Present arms." Greatest Emotional Picture. One soldier disregarded the order. The officer, with a poor heart for his job. shot the soldier dead. Again, the order was given. This time it was obeyed, but on the command, "Fire," every rifle lifted and every shot went over Nurse Cavell's head. Then, for the first time in 14 months of an experience worse than war, her fortitude deserted her. She fainted. In tho end the officer of the firing party had to be executioner himself, and it is on record that with his left hand he had to steady his right hand as he fired a shot that echoed round the world. "Dawn," with a matchless artist like Pauline Frederick, must be the greatest emotional picture ever made. In this country we do not realise tho reverence in which the memory of Nurse Cavell is held. It is not generally known that in her honour every nurse in Belgium now wears English nurse's uniform. It is more remarkable still that a German film company has offered to collaborate in the production. The offer has been dteclined, but "Dawn" will be shown throughout Germany. A New War Film. To the enterprise of MrC M. Woolf we owe the,greatest,.film undertaking yet attempted in this country. Elaborate preparations have'been completed for the immediate production of a picture entitled "Victory," covering the outstanding incidents' of .'the,, Great' War from March to November, 1918. The narrative for this picture has been written by Boyd Cable, .the writer who in his varied career was once a farm hand in New Zealand. Boyd Cable has created almost a corner in war films. Direction will be in the .hands, of M. A. Wetherell, who directed!'.... "The. Somme,'.' the best war film made to date. In "Victory" he will attempt something on an infinitely greater scale and with a world-wide appeal. The Army Council is to lend assistance, - and ' arrangements have been completed whereby the military authorities will co-operate more in the production of this picture than on any previous occasion. The liaison officer between the makers and the military will be Captain H. Oakes-Jones, Honorary Adviser to the War Office on Military Displays and on Army Historical Research. His work is already well known to the public through his creation andl organisation- of the Military Tattoos. Through the plot and action of a story of adventure, "Victory," it is said, will unfold the greatest and most complete of all war dramas, including the tremendous German attack of March which drove the Allies back on all fronts, and our breaking of the HUndenburg line. In addition to this epic of war, "Victory" will show some of the innumerable tragedies among those inhabitants of French town, village, and farm, who, after years of security behind the Allied! lines, suddenly found themselves in enemy hands.