SCREEN SENSATION OF CENTURY.

Shannon News, 13 October 1925, Page 3

SCREEN SENSATION OF CENTURY.

“DOWN TO the; sea in ships.” Few motion pictures that, have ever found their way to successful completion have been attempted on the scale with which Whaling Film Corporation has produced “Down to the Sea in Ships,”-the Hlodkinson superspecial which comes to the Maoriland Theatre on Friday. The outstanding fact in conjunction with the filming of this picture, which serves to make it unique in its field, is that it is one of €he few productions in the history of motion pictures that has for its locale the tempestuous waters of the high seas, arid' the principal character in this breathtaking drama of the Atlantic is a 90-ton whale. Nature has provided not only a background utterly impossible to imitate through any trick of photography, but it places in this setting ari enraged leviathan of the deep, stung to fury by a deeply-em-bedded harpoo*. .The great moment in “Down to the Sea in Ships” comes when the whale, realising the futility of escape, turns on his captors, sweeps one side of the boat, leaving but the stumps, of broken oars in the hands of the fearstricken crew. The harpoon is still embedded deeply in the back of the whale a.nd in one last effort to rid himself of the life-taking iron, the giant mammal swims off to a distance of several hundred feet, turns, hestitates an instance, and then char- . ges the boat with the speed and force of the fastest! express. It is only a matter of seconds until the \yhale has hit the boat square in the mid-de, smashing it to bits, and tossing its crew into the air. Sharks are plainly seen ready to strike the instant any of the crew: touch , the water.