BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 159, 4 January 1912, Page 4

BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.

SHOWN BY CINEMATOGRAPHY. A WONDERFUL PICTURE. Last night the large audience at the Empire Theatre was treated to a feast of pictures that left nothing to he desired. It is unlikely that anything better of its kind has been seen locally or elsewhere than "The Battle of Trafalgar," and for the purposes of a unique cinematographic record of the greatest'* event in British history, and the real beginning of Britain's vast Empire, the Edison people have excelled themselves. There is a wealth' of detail, not only highly picturesque but historically accurate, as far as students of history may known. The principal characters, including the great admiral, have been chosen with an eye to the effective picturing of the most stirring British story, and the culmination on the : deck of the Victory—still one of tile prized relics of the senior "service—is "moving beyond the power of common words to describe. It has been sought to follow in detail with living men the famous pictures accepted as indicating the phases of the struggle, and nothing finer can be imagined than the actual fight, the fatal shot from the swaying tops of the "Redoubtable," the fall of Nelson, and the immortal sceu<; in the cockpit of the Victory, when the great sailor, surrounded by his trusted officers, having been told of the victory of his fleet, dies content. Of much interest is a facsimile of Nelson's last icntry in his diary, which is thrown on the screen, and which, as everybody -knows, was prophetic oLhis death. There is a reality about this record that makes it of much imperial service, the main idea that should come to the beholder being that the event pictured was the primary reason why New Zealand became British ground. Another star film pictures the divine comedy of Dante, and although moving pictures of an imagined nether region with'a wealth of lire, brimstone, and torture, is unpleasant, the makers of such a record are probably merely guided by the idea of obtaining a unique fihn. Shortly, it is, neither so inspiring nor so artistic to watch a large number of actors sweltering in a manufactured hell as it is to quietly peruse the artistic creations of Gustave Dore. The effects, however, are very wonderful; especially where gigantic living friends are handing human beings from torture to torture. An excellent "Foolshead" item shows forcible wooing by a gigantic negress, who performs muscular feats of affection entitling her to box Johnson for the belt. There is a remarkably fine series of scenic records of Switzerland, and the latest picture news gazette shows the foremost events of the moment.

There is movement an«cl horsemanship of a very special kind in "The Spanish Girl," wherein a drania'fcic tale of love is excellently told and the right ending ensues. They seem to/ be training "sure enough" cowpunchersJ in the dramatic art as a sideline to/ wooden hams in America. "Alkali ike's Auto" is a deftly arranged story~of the love of two cowpunchers for a very large woman and her subsequent adventures in a runaway motor-car. It I has a laugh to every half-inch. There are other excellent pictures of varieu -interest.

"DANTE'S INFERNO." Dante is lost in a wood and beset by wild beasts, when he meets the Spirit of Virgil, the Roman poet, who tells him he has had a vision of Beatrice, bidding him (Virgil) go and) conduct ' Dante through the Infernal Regions, that he may witness the Eternal Torments, repent of his sins, and so gain admittance into Paradise. Dante follows the Roman bard. They arrive at a darksome cavern, above which the following letters in fire are written, "All hope abandon ye who enter in." Dante is afraid, but is passified by Virgil, and so together they descend to the first pit of Hell, so-called Limbo, which is not actually a place of torture. Moving further down they arrive at the great river Styx, over which they are carried to the first portion of Hell proper, where many transgressors are punished. Virgil on the way points 'out to Dante the chief among the evil-doers who dwell in the nethesregions. Dante passes through the numerous abysses forming Hell, and recognises several of his countrymen, one of whom predicts his exile from Florence, which occurs 15 years later. Having Been all the eternal torments and traversed the entire round, they arrive at the centre of the earth, where they view Lucifer, who, when falling from Heaven, became firmly fixed in the centre of the earth. The two clamber up his shaggy sides, and so once more gain sight of the stars. .' .