FILMS AND THE PLAYERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 454, 8 September 1928, Page 25

FILMS AND THE PLAYERS

WAR STORIES— After viewing that much-dis-cussed picture -‘Dawn;’' an English critic has made several trenchant observations anent stories with war themes. “Following a positive Maze of publicity the ban on ‘Dawn’ has been lifted," he .says. “Why all this fuss should ever have arisen escapes me. I went preparing to dislike the picture, but my misgivings were completely unjustified. “The Germans considered it their duty to shoot Miss Cavell as a deterrent to others and in punishment of the infringement of martial law. It was a tragedy, but I do not think that it can be termed an atrocity. The guilty party is war itself, a fact that ‘Dawn’ made abundantly clear. “It seems to me that the only possible justification for a tear film is to ram it home unceasingly that war is an accursed thing. Any film that attempts to present war as a glorified picnic party, with sword-waving, high-faluting patriotic sentimentality, and, worse still, petting parties between the dashing troops and the saucy demoiselles of France, any film,

I say, that does any of these things, should be publicly burned and those responsible sent to join the nearest war in China or Mexico for a taste of the real thing." It is true that the brutalities of war should not be condoned or receive light treatment, but it is equally certain that many sequences portraying life in warracked France would be merely horrible if not lightened by glimpses of legitimate fun and ad ventures behind the lines. As a class “war" pictures are improving. Their days are numbered and, even now, they are comparatively few, but the latest productions have new and specialised themes.