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successfully too, although we certainly did for a time lose some of our most important men. The times were undoubtedly difficult and the war's need of men could not and should not be disputed. But those of us who for age or other infirmity 'stayed at home' were glad to feel that what we were doing here was contributing its tiny bit to the spirit and well-being of hardworked Britain.
But in spite of what I have just said about Henry Edwards — Tedwards, he was always called for short and for affection — I must mention one of his films which was a most valiant effort to do something which, in the doing, proved itself to be almost, but not quite an impossibility. He set out to make a full-length silent film without any titles, either of description or of conversation. One only it had, and that was its name at the beginning: Lily in the Alley. It was very nearly as successful as it deserved to be, and it would have succeeded altogether, I think, if he and we and all other producers had not for many years been telling people, in titles and other devices, exactly what they were to think and understand and believe. This continual doping had so dulled the intellects of the audiences that they never sit up and try to understand. Nothing is left to the imagination; everything is handed to them on a plate, ready cooked and digested so that there is nothing whatever to do but just swallow it whole. It is much the same now, for though sound does sometimes complicate the plot a little, it is more often used to clarify it.
It is a little difficult to say what effect the first World War had upon the British film industry. It certainly brought us many difficulties at the time but I doubt whether it had any real or lasting effect. I have already told of the difficulties caused by the calling up of the youngsters and of the way we met that trouble, but it was not very long before the more experienced people were also required for more serious work than ours. Our clever French technician, Gaston Quiribet, left two days before the war started. Others were called up from time to time and then released again to go on helping us a little longer, though the tribunals were naturally unsympathetic to our appeals for exemption. One irascible colonel said, 'Picture theatres are an unnecessary luxury and the public will benefit by their closing.' Both Kimberley and I, ineligible for active service, were in the Volunteers which took up a lot of our time, and practically all our workers drained away in the end. But we managed.
The industry as a whole kept its flag flying. The Hep worth
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