Motography (Jul - Dec 1915)

216 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. XIV. No. 5. VITAGRAPH HAS EIGHT-REEL ON INVASION OF AMERICA Commodore J. Stuart Blackton of the Vitagraph Company of America has announced completion of the work on "The Battle. Cry of Peace," an eight-part picture dealing with the question of the present state of unpreparedness of the United States, and showing what would happen should any ' of the first-class powers of the world decide to invade this country. The facts on which this picture has been founded were obtained from Hudson Maxim's book, "Defenceless America," but a strong dramatic story has been woven into the facts. Commodore Blackton declared he had produced the picture with the intention of so arousing the public to our present • needs that the coming session of congress will make the appropriation which the National Security League and many other patriotic organizations have been fighting for whose purpose is increased armament. The picture shows a landing force arriving in New York City, buildings in flames, the exodus of all this city's five million population to the interior. A Stuart Blackton. reaUy woncierful achieve ment has been attained by showing New York City as a deserted town in the hands of a hostile force. How the Woolworth Tower would look in flames, the Capitol in Washington crumbling before the onslaughts of the guns of the invaders, and surmising what would happen to that 160 miles square territory which Hudson Maxim terms the vitals of the country. The advisory board consisting of several of the most prominent government and civil officials work in conjunction with Commodore Blackton in producing this picture, which is supported by such men as Secretary of War Garrison, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, General Leonard Wood and General Montgomery M. Macomb, Theodore Roosevelt, Dr. Lyman Abbott and others too numerous to mention, all of whom have appeared personally in the picture. An unusual feature of the picture is the fact that Commodore Blackton has dedicated it to the mothers of America, on whose shoulders, he asserts, falls the heaviest sacrifice in times of strife. Perhaps one scene of the picture will serve to illustrate just how carefully has this picture been made. The scene in question shows, first, a flower bed, which, filled with the choicest American blooms, is shown an instant afterwards trampled down by the heavy boots and horses' hoofs of the invaders. Perhaps the wanton destruction in this one case shows more clearly than any other scene the destruction that follows in the wake of an invading force and will serve to bring home to America just what Belgium in its state of unpreparedness had to suffer. "Care has been taken," said Commodore Blackton, discussing this picture, "to avoid arousing animosity against any other nation. The uniforms used by the invaders are of a nondescript character, the cap is a creation of my own, and no possible bias can be stirred up by the picture. In choosing names I was very careful and those used are the ones which have become more or less identified as belonging, to Americans. There is one exception, however; it is that of 'Emanon,' which is simply 'No name' backwards. It has a foreign sound and serves to distinguish the character from the Americans. In picking the types who were to portray the characters I have been careful also and no country can say that we have aroused against them a feeling of hatred. The strict neutrality which President Wilson asks all Americans to observe has been carried out by the Vitagraph Company." HEARST-SELIG SPECIAL TRAIN LANDS GUESTS IN CALIFORNIA The Hearst-Selig special arrived in San Francisco on July 11. The members of the party were ferried across from Oakland to San Francisco and here quartered at the Clift and Fielding Hotels. On the eveningof July 11 rubberneck buses took the party up the Pacific Heights to see the illumination at the exposition and from there they took a trip through Chinatown, which was one of the most interesting trips they have taken so far. On the morning of the twelfth the party saw San Francisco Bay from a chartered tug and landed at the Exposition, where they spent the rest of the day. The Civic Auditorium, where the convention opened, seats 11,040 people in the main auditorium and 32,000 in the whole building. Scenes for "The Seven Suffering Sisters," the popular serial which ran in Motography, were taken at the Selig Jungle Zoo, where thrilling animal action will be an added attraction to the pictures which will be released in a few weeks in conjunction with the Hearst-Selig News Pictorial. Leaving San Francisco the night of July 13, they journeyed to San Jose and at 8 a. m. the next day they left in special chartered cars for a ride through the Santa Clara valley. The trip was sixty-five miles long and thoroughly delightful and was put on by an arrangement with the San Jose Commercial Club. After visiting the Leland Stanford University and seeing the ruins which the earthquake wrought and the wonderful way in which the institution has been rebuilt the party returned to San Jose. They next stopped at Big Trees, where gigantic redwoods were inspected, and after a picture had been taken they journeyed on to Santa Cruz and spent an hour there looking over the beach. Monday the Selig party witnessed a special rodeo staged by cowboys at Caliente, Nevada, the bucking bronchos and branding calves, all of which were filmed. On Tuesday they were entertained by the Commercial Club, a concert at the Mormon tabernacle and a ride through the city of Salt Lake, Utah. FRANK LLOYD JOINS MOROSCO Frank Lloyd, youngest of the moving picture directors of the first class, has been engaged by the Oliver Morosco Photoplay Company as director. He has been dynamiting his way to the front for the past four years by sheer native ability and ahead-of-thetimes ideas, and the opportunity the present post affords him is all that he needs to gain him recognition as a topnotcher.