Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1911)

y8o THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD Impressions of "Dante's Inferno." By the Rev. Elias Boudinet Stockton, S. T. B., East Orange, N. J. Fur several years, the writer has been a student of the moving picture from an artistic and educational point of view, being especially interested in the possible developments of its use in the serious work of higher education in our colIges and universities; but with the exception of the films made for the Russell Sage Foundation and those recently manufactured for the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Philadelphia, by the Lubin Company, and a few more of similar character, nothing suitable for anything more serious than university extension courses has come to his knowledge, until last Tuesday, when he was privileged to see the Milano Company's film of Dante's Inferno. This film is so great an improvement on any that has hitherto appeared that if it is followed, as it undoubtedly will be, by others of a similar character, it will mark the beginning of a distinct era, not only in the moving picture business, but also in the educational world. The distinguishing mark of this film, from an educational point of view, is not the beauty of the photography, nor the excellence of the acting, nor the magnificence and delicacy of treatment, great and worthy of all praise as these are, but the absolute fidelity to the poem in all its details that has been achieved. Two careful scrutinies of the film revealed but two instances where this fidelity had been impaired: in the punishment of the spendthrifts and avaricious, the necessities of the case changed the enormous "weights" of the poet i Canto 7:27) into huge sacks of gold; and the angel who opened the gates to the city of Dis (Canto 973-i°5) was a woman instead of a man. In the first instance, the Milano Company are to be congratulated on the artistic way in which they have overcome or rather circumvented an apparently insurmountable obstacle and preserved the spirit of the poet's idea while sacrificing the letter; and for the second instance, altho' it is contrary to theology, etymology, renaissance art, and even to the poet himself, abundant excuse will be found when it is remembered that modern art so abounds in female angels, that a noted sculptor in good faith decorated a chapel of one of New York's largest churches with a number of them ,and only discovered his mistake when it was pointed out to him by the theologians. It was of course to be expected that the prominent speaking characters, such as Dante, Virgil, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and others of whom we have authentic likenesses would be faithfully portrayed, but it was a distinct surprise and is a unique merit of this Milano film that this same accuracy of detail is found in the hundreds of lay figures who are simply mentioned throughout the poem as citizens of hell. This is only one example out of many that show the careful attention paid to every detail, however small, and the infinite pains that have been taken to have correct _ in_ every_ particular, even the minutiae of the work; and it is just this that has made the Milano film a production of genius and gives it its great educational value in the realm of art and literature. Before going further, a few words must be said regarding the accessories that accompanied the Baltimore exhibition. The decorations, or rather absence of them, in the stage setting was very appropriate to the subject and enhanced the beauty and grandeur of the pictures. The accompanying lecture was appropriately and admirably well rendered; and the idea of placing the musicians behind it instead of in front of the screen was exceptionally good, the use of an organ as the sole musical instrument being most felicitous. It is a pity that it was impossible to procure in Baltimore a vocalion organ, as with this instrument the swell reed effects of a pipe organ can be perfectly imitated and the needed religious tone brought out most impressively. The onomatopoetic or imitative sounds that from time to time occurred were most excellently rendered and it was an exquisite artistic touch to render them pianissimo, so that the sound was rather suggested than obtruded on the ear. This was particularly noticeable in the excellent rendering of the triple growl of Cerberus, which the "drummer" handled most skillfully. Going back now to the film itself, the first impression is that literally the whole poem has been reproduced; and altho a detailed comparison of the pictures and the film reveals that there are omissions, these have been so carefully selected and are of so unimportant a nature that the impression grows on one continually that the only things omitted are repetitions, and that the whole argument of the poet has been completely represented and that every idea conceived by him has been portrayed in the film at least once. This is particularly noticeable in the first five scenes, where, by the simple expedient of placing Beatrice's inter cession to Virgil in the middle of the four scenes depicting the first canto, the second canto in its entirety has been compressed into one scene and at the same time has been adequately and faithfully represented. These introductory scenes are also noteworthy for the way in which they have brought out the allegorical interpretation underlying Dante's descriptions. One might almost think that it was the poet himself who had chosen the scenery of the gloomy wood ending in a barren waste, while the receding and advancing of the panther, representing lust, as Dante alternately combats and shrinks from it; the stubborn immovability of the lion, standing for pride and ambition; and the life and spirit with which the she wolf, typifying avarice, races down the rocks and puts the poet to rout, not only make a most realistic and thrilling climax, but are such true pictures of the nature of the sins themselves that they also suggest most powerfully the underlying allegorical meaning. This suggestiveness of interpretation, both literal and allegorical, is to be found in nearly every scene of the film, but it is exceptionally noteworthy in the posing of the men rejected of heaven and scorned by hell for their selfish, selfcentered lives, in the eager rushing of the newly deceased souls to enter Charon's boat and learn their doom, in the storm that continually chastises the gluttonous, in the approach across the Stygian Lake to the city of Dis; in Geryon, the monster typifying fraud, with the face of a just man and "the rest all serpent," and in the ice scenes of the ninth circle. Akin to this is the delicacy with which the interpretation has been suggested. This is true not only of those portions of the poem that, plainly put, might offend morality and good taste, but even in those where delicacy is merely a characteristic of artistic merit. Cerberus, owing to his necessarily artificial structure, was a difficult subject to handle, but the skill by which the evidences of this have been concealed, and the deftness with which the descriptions of Dante's poem and Virgil's ^Sneid have been imitated is worthy of all praise. The treatment of Lucifer has been handled with the same masterly delicacy, as have also the portrayal of the maimed and mutilated false prophets and teachers of false doctrine, a ghastly subject from which the shocking has been entirely eliminated, and the punishment of the profligates and procurers, scourged by demons, which not only contains no objectionable elements, but also furnishes an excellent specimen of subtle characterization. Perhaps however, the finest example of this delicacy is the story of Francesca da Rimini, which shows not only the delicacy with which a difficult subject has been handled, but by the transition back to scene at the point that Paolo and Francesca turn, from reading about Launcelot, to embrace each other, gives the same delicate intimation of guilt that the poet has done by his words, "In its leaves that day, we read no more." These three traits or features — accuracy of detail, completeness, not comprehensiveness, of treatment, and an interpretation suggested with delicacy, but definitely and correctly— are primary requisites of all really educational films and are absolute essentials for any film that will be of use in higher education. The Milano film of Dante's Inferno contains all of these elements in a marked degree, has settled once for all in the affirmative the question as to whether such films can be satisfactorily produced, and, when it is followed by others of a similar character, it will be only a matter of time and of bringing the films to the notice of the higher educational authorities, before an entirely new field of usefulness and remuneration for motion photography will be opened and developed. ZIZ— IT'S HOTALING! Arthur D. Hotaling, comedy producer for the Lubin Company, recently bought a new automobile. Mr. Hotaling lost no time in making a run to Atlantic City in the new car. He declares it's the fastest "buzz buggy" on the road. "I passed everything in sight," he said to a party of friends, "except one car that was going along like greased lightning. I could not seem to catch up with it and we were both going like the wind. I lost sight of him as he topped a hill. When I -aw him again he had stopped by a small building and a crowd of people were gathered around. I came up to the place and found that the owner of the car was in the hands of the constable. I stopped long enough to see him fined $20 and come out of the justice's office a sad 'Budweiser' man. I certainly am lucky. If I had caught that fellow and got ahead of him it is myself who would have been the fall guy." Mr. Hotaling came to New York in the same wagon Labor Day and returned to Philadelphia the following day.