Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913)

THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS 1 1 HIDDEN FORCES OF DESTINY ABLY CLOTHED THE DRAMA MOTIVES OF "THE FATAL GROTTO" Strange are the ways of Fate. Their developments in "The Fatal Grotto," are of that strangeness as to approach the fatalistic. How a distraught father, seeking to free himself from malevolent powers, accidentally frees himself, unveils the hidden forces which sway our destinies. Under ground are laid the scenes of this clouded tragedy whose lining is of silver, subterranean in their turgid blackness its swiftly moving scenes. Held in the bond of his own sinister vocation, a father is confronted with the awful problem of how to escape sacrificing his daughter to his accomplice in misdeeds. His fortune was dependent upon the secret of the grotto as the seat of his nefarious traffic with the man who now held a sword threateningly above him. It is a problem in sacrifice — shall he permit his daughter to wreck her life by taking the bed and name of a man of ill— SCENE FROM "THE FATAL GROTTO" fame, or shall he reconstruct out of the ashes of the past the edifice of character? Melodramatic is the act the father decides to remove temptation by destroying the grotto. The demons of indecision are seen contending in his countenance as he stands, ready to ignite the fuse which shall explode the powerful explosive and bring the rocks of the grotto falling over the place of illicit trade. Terrible moments are they when the parent discovers that in the cave are his daughter and her lover, who, having accidentally discovered it, have sought to penetrate its secrets ; when the parent and his workmen race with Death in their endeavor to rescue the young folk who cling desperately to the jagged wall of the grotto beneath, watching with eyes of terror the murky waters which are soon, with the rising of the tide, to submerge them in the lethal flood. Little realizes the father than that a greater drama has, meanwhile, been enacted within the grotto as the arch-villain, seeking to kill the man whose life he covets, has been destroyed. A story of pregnant power, showing the stern hand of a Nemesis which overtakes the wrong-doer. RELIANCE DEFEATS KINEMACOLOR Saturday's victory by the Reliance baseball team, when they defeated Kinemacolor by a score of 12 to 6, gives promise of a hard fought battle with lots of excitement when Reliance meets Lubin on the Reliance home grounds at Lenox Oval, Lenox avenue and 145th street, on June 7th. Both companies have exceptionally strong teams, and are anxious for a chance to prove their supremacy. The Lubin team will arrive by special train on Saturday morning accompanied by a crowd of Philadelphia rooters, and will be escorted to the field by the Reliance Company, and a large number of picture and baseball fans. Captain Irving Cummings, of the Reliance, is kept busy answering feminine voices over the telephone seeking information about the game which will be called at 3 P. M. sharp. MOVING PICTURES OF CAPT. SCOTT'S DASH TO THE SOUTH POLE AT THE LYRIC THEATRE WONDERFULLY INTERESTING The exhibition of a series of moving pictures of Captain Scott's "South Pole Dash" was well received by an appreciative audience at the Lyric Theatre on Monday evening, and clearly illustrates the educational power of moving pictures. These pictures were taken by Herbert G. Ponting, F. R. G. S., the official photographer of the expedition, and one could readily see the dangers under which they were taken, and the wonderful results obtained by Mr. Ponting in spite of these difficulties. The first of the moving pictures showed Captain Scott's stanch whaler, the "Terra Nova," in a most terrific gale, the waves reaching 50 feet in height at times and the ship listing at an angle of 53 degrees. Icebergs of tremendous size (200 feet high) are seen, and it makes a person rather uncomfortable to see how close they pass to the whaler. Monster killer whales, 30 feet in length are seen sporting in the water, and also in pursuit of a seal and her young ones. The mother trying to protect and assist her young from them is helped by a harpoon thrown from the ship which pierces one of the whales which gets away. Weddell seals are shown diving, sawing the ice with their teeth, playing with their young, and lastly, fighting. The splendid dog teams used by Captain Scott was another interesting feature of this exhibition and lecture. Captain Scott and Dr. Wilson travelling by dog team were also shown. This exhibition of moving pictures not only showed the sad and tragic parts of the expedition, but also some very funny and laughable scenes, and these were particularly those of the Adelie Penguins, showing the penguins mating, building their nests, which were made entirely of small stones, and penguins making love to one another. Gulls stealing the penguin's eggs was rather a sad thing to witness as the penguins had to stand idly by, being no match for the gulls and see their eggs carried off in the beaks of the gulls. These penguins look for all the world like little old men dressed in a "boiled shirt" and bobtailed coat, and the way they waddle is excruciatingly funny, and puts you in mind of a "penguin trot" instead of a turkey trot. Mount Erebus was shown in action, and with its frozen grandeur, made rather a fascinating picture to witness. The headquarters of the expedition were established within 15 miles of Mount Erebus. A very interesting part of the exhibition was the depicting of the Skua gulls. It showed the gulls hatching their eggs, the mother being driven off the eggs from time to time in order to secure pictures of the different stages of hatching. The little gull is seen breaking the shell of the egg and gradually emerging into the cold, desolate Antarctic. Near the last of this intensely interesting series was shown Captain Scott and his four companions, Dr. Edward A. Wilson, Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, Captain L. E. G. Oakes and Petty Officer Edgar Wilson, pitching camp for the night, and cooking and serving "Hoosh," their evening meal. After their meal they pulled themselves into their sleeping bags and nestled closely together for more warmth. This was a very sad picture to witness, _f or it proves afterwards that this tent was their tomb. The two last pictures, which were recovered from the side of Captain Scott, show them at the South Pole and at the tent erected by Captain Amundsen, who reached the Pole one month before Scott. The lecture was delivered by Ernest Forrence, whose annunciation was very clear, and who described the pictures in a most interesting way. The dangers and suffering through which Captain Scott and his companions passed can only be realized when one has seen these wonderful but heartrending pictures. Every one. if possible, should see them as it is an education in itself, and one sees things as they actually happened. HAROLD F. RENDALL. AN EXPLANATION In our issue of May 31st through a typographical error in the story of "Hearth Lights" we failed to give credit to the Reliance Company from whose synopsis this admirable story was adapted and put in story form by Miss Virginia West.