"FILMING" THE GREAT WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1916, Page 2

"FILMING" THE GREAT WAR.

AN OPERATOR'S PERILS. ESCAPES THE LAST PENALTY. A war film is generally looked upon with suspicion even by those who sit spell-bound in the dark cinema theatre, thrilling to the vivid dioramic spectacle of the pomp and circumstance of battle; the gallant planting of flags on corpsestrewn heights, the flash of steel amidst a thick shroud of smoke shot with flickering flames and the like to a degree of seeming realism. This vague suspicionl is generally justified. The operator is no welcome visitor upon the field. He is liable to the same short shrift as a spy, if caught; and, in any case, he could hardly follow a ragged charge over a shrapnel-torn gully to obtain the sensational results blazoned forth in some war films.

Yet, in spite of prohibition, suspicion and penalty, war films bave been taken. An English engineer, Mr. G. B. Holmes took a few thousand feet of film taken upon the battlefields of Flanders, Belgium and France. But his account of war smacks little of this pseudo realism. Death he saw at- every turn, but death in its natural habitat (where more natural than on the field of battle) is a commonplace, savoring more of the grotesque than of the horrible. He saw men stop suddenly as if in their stride they had come upon a barrier, sink to a sitting posture, and crawl away aimlessly; or collapse quietly, "a sprawl of clothes. 1 ' But there was nothing visible over the great landscape to account it, and in the absence of clash or any apparent cause the sting of terror or horror was lost. Mr. Holmes' story, however, infringes only casually upon this reflective side. In the main it is a plain tale of how he got there, where he went, and what he saw. Let him be heard for himself:—

"I was in America just before the war began making a business proposition ami doing a lot of flying. While rumors were afloat, but everything was still vague, I returned to England, and was scarcely there when the bolt fell. A London theatre manager, knowing that I had done a lot of work with the camera, suggested that I should go to the front and get some pictures. Things were at a loose end; the idea caught my fancy, and that same evening, equipped with a camera, a motor-cycle and a 'triptriquci' (international passport) I started for the front. Next morning I was at the Hook, in Holland, and, travelling fast, reached Aix la Chapelle, on the borders of Holland and Belgium, the same evening. The Germans were already pouring into Belgium, and but for the influence of a friend in the Belgian army—Captain Egon Byleveld, a Hollander—l would never have got through. "Once the zone of action was reached it became plain that camera men were undesirables, and that any pictures must be got by manoeuvre in face of orders. I hid my camera in the two bags strapped to my cycle, and frequently in the confusion of the next few weeks I acted as despatch rider, setting up my camera where opportunity and an interestinw sight came together, and clicking off a few feet at a time. That is how ' all pictures were taken at the front.

DISASTER AVERTED. ,; Jn October, just after the famous retreat from Mons, 1 was with the British 7th Division at La Bassec and Bruges, and by mv knowledge of aeroplanes was able to render some service. A movi'iii'iit against a particular section of the Herman line was ordered from headquarters, with the usual accompanying 'pinning' attack. Before a movement like that, accurate observation is necessary. At that time flying machines were not. present in such strength as now, and the only one attached to our division—a Yoisin machine—had been damaged that morning, and the pilot killed. X was able to patch up the machine, and my offer to pilot observing officers in it was accepted. We went up and over the German linos, and the officers discovered the fact that our 102,000 men had projected s an attack against 1,000.01)0 men. What followed has been recorded in the cables. Thi» British retired, and the Hermans, misled (by out flight over their lines when they thought they hart settled our air machines) into the belief that we had 1 been reinforced, also retired.

PICTURES FROM ARMORED TRAIN. On another occasion I went out with Lieut-Commander Robertson on a 4.7 armored train to reconnoitre a position supposed to be held by the enemy. We located flennans in ambush, and while we. weve spraying lead into their position and receiving a warm return, I managed to take a few feet of film from the eab of the engine. Only a few feet, and I was glad to get. under cover again. "Round about Ypres with the French and British I learned that a big engagement was on, and that three of my friends talcing pictures were out 'on th» job.' When V arrived post haste the action bad developed plainly. Our men and the enemy were on eppasite sides oi a valley, the guns of each side on the hills behind. Our men had advanced, crossed a river by pontoan?, and engaged the enemy infantry, when I found all three of my friends deael beside their cameras. 1 task the films from their | cameras (afterwards finding they had secured 500 ft showing the whole adj Vance), and completed the picture, although s-.lightly wounded myself. | ONCE TOO OFTEN—THE END. "Some time later I was caught taking pictures, and court-martistlleil. 1 had little prospect of escaping an ignominious fate, but bethought me of the services I had managed t» render. I was allowed to send a message to the officer in high command, for whom 1 had done some dying and despatch riding. ] admitted the misdemeanor to him, lint lie minded him oF these .services. 1 received my note hack with the laconic endorsement: 'Make yourself scarce.' Curiously enough, ] found my guard conveniently absent, and a motor-bike as conveniently placed handy, and in a few minutes I was as far away as that machine could take me."