"BIRTH OF A NATION"

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2863, 30 August 1916, Page 6

"BIRTH OF A NATION"

APEX OF THE "MOVIE"

ART

In the weaving of a wonderfully appealing story into the warp and woof of a dire national tragedy; in tho inspirational strength of dramatic construction; in the stage management of vast crowds of people, giving expression to those lurid passions which obsessed them in times of dreadful unrest, the picture, "The Birth of a Nation," presented for the first time in New Zealand at the Town Hall last evening, under the management of J. C. William-,, son, Ltd., has all the elements of greatness. There have been many impressive pictures shown in AYellington from time to time, each with qualities that call for praise, but in the light of D. W. Griffith's profound realisation of Thomas Dixon's historical novel, "The Clansman," they are mere shadows. Apart from the brain-searing spectacles of those deadly clashes between the Northern and Southern States, which arose from the slave problem in America, there is a deep-down heart call to every white man to,he loyal to tho colour that stands for. civilisation that cannot be Tesisted. In a great measure "The Birth of a Nation" is a call for consideration and sympathy with tlie attitude of the South, and no one who accepts the story as reflecting the truth can but concede that there was much to be said for their attitude, and a great deal to condemn in the manner the Southerners were treated in tho neriod that succeeded Lee's surrender at Petersburg, and the signing of the treaty of peace that gave new birth to a peonlo on the brink of national suicide. The 6tory deals in the main with the experiences during and immediately subsequent to the war of two families on opposite sides, that of Br. Cameron, of Piedmont, in'the South, and of Senator Stoneman, of Washington, in tho North. Stoneman is an implacable enemy of the South, and as an outstanding power in Congress his influence favours the negro franchise and the degrading of every Southern leader, oven to the loss of his power to vote. The Stoneman boys have been chums, with the Camerons at school, and it is their fate to fight on opposito sides. And in drawing the. threads of tho story together wonderfully graphic scenes are depicted, showing the Confederate and Union forces in conflict, and finally the big clash before Petersburg, when, thft Southern forces are beaten to earth. Following these sanguinary scenes, come tho horrors of negro insolence and arrogance, outrage, and bestial savagery, directed against the Southern ■ whites, who are kept in terror of their lives by tho negro militia, and in particular are these horrors heaped upon the Cameron family. Colonel Cameron, the eldest eon, who has been wounded in tho last battle, creeps back from death's door in a Washington Hospital, where he has learned to lovo Elsie Stoneman, the pretty'daughter of the pig-headed old Senator. When ho recovers sufficiently to return home, he finds things in a shocking condition. Through Stoneman, a mulatto named Silas Lynch ias been made Lieut.-Govcrnor of South Carolina, and he encourages all kinds of insult and savagery on the part of tho blacks towards the whites. Matters reach a climax. • when tho negroes, drunk with power, commit nameless outrages on women and children, and Colonel Cameron and others initiate retaliatory methods by forming tho Ku Klux Klan, a movement which spreads throughout tho South, and made war on the negroes until they bad disarmed them all, and Congress was forced to see belated justice done to an honourable, if beaten, foe. In the midst of this turmoil of blood—in winch more lives were lost than at Gettysburg—Elsie Stoneham Tejects her Southern lover in loyalty to her father, and old man Ftoneman raises no finger to prevent tho persecution of tho Camerons, but retribution comes when Silas Lynch, now a power, seizes Elsie, and is about to forcibly marry her, when her father comes on the scene. Lynch has the impudence to ask for her hand in marriage, but is Tepelled with contumely. A big riot rage's among the blacks, and many scenes of convincing power are enacted before the Klan sweep down to their revenge, and restore the white man to his proper place. "The little colonel" wins the girl of his heart, and gallant Phil Stonoman (tho Senator's son) finds felicity in the arms of Margaret Cameron —a double union of the North and South.

Spectacularly the picture is.amazingly effective. To witness the great battles being fought over vast expanses of sunny countrysido is to bo there in imagination. One striking picture is that of the Confederate trenches, where the ragged troops, living on parched corn, are fighting to the last man. Even in tb.ejr extremity they charge madly over the bullet-swept area, only to bo annihilated by the superior gun-play of the Union forces; Another exciting scene is a representation of the murder in a box at Ford's Theatre, Washington, of President Lincoln, by John Wilkes Booth. So faithful is the representation of this scene that those who know •the olny, "Our American Cousin" (which Sothern the elder made famous by his impersonation of Lord Dundreary) can recognise the action of the comedy even as the dread deed is committed, which killed the truest friend of the South. Tho domestic 6cones in the home of the Camerons, and the blood-stirring charges of the white-shrouded IClan, are all managed with surprising skill and absolute oinviction. And the acting throughout is of a high quality. Mr. Henry Walthall as Colonel : Cameron is perfectly fitted, and Miss Lillian Gish nhkes a charming Elsie Stoneman. Misa Mao Marsh is sweetly vivacious as Flora Cameron, andy her parents arc finely sketched by Air. S. Aiken and Miss Josephine Crowell. Mr. Joseoh Hcnabery makes a life-like .Abraham Lincoln: Mr. Ralph I«wis a strong Stoneman, and Mr, Georje Seigmann is fiendishly convincing as Silas Lynch. Mr. Griffith has seen to it that there are no weak spots in the long cast. Excellently .-impropriate music is furnished by an orchestra of ten, under the direction of Mr. Horace Kent*. ,v factor which mads for the comfort of the audience -iras the- new upholstered seats in the back nart of the gallery. "The Birth' of a Nation" will be shown for the next eight nights, and on Saturday afternoon.