Pictures and the Picturegoer (October 1915 - March 1916)

PICTURES AHD THE PICTUREGOER 70 :■■: KNDING Oct. 23, 19 15. PL-EMITTED HEESELF TO BE LIFTED IN THE STEOXG AEM S OF HER NEW FElEND^ He stopped short, a look of pure amazement upon his face. Half-unconsciously as she listened, Jane was rubbing one bruised and aching arm with the other hand, and, raising her sleeve as she did so, exposed to view a peculiar little mar-k just above her elbow— a mark the minister had seen before twenty years agq. " The story is of yourself," he said, his face working with emotion. "Oh! the tvOnder "of it all. . . . Jane, you are my child ! " There is a true-to-lifeness about this "Flying A" film, due perhaps to the fact that it is, in a measure, founded upon fact. Vivian Rich— who plays the role of " Jane " — in the company of a coactress really found a Japanese baby washed ashore in pretty much the same way as " Jane " arrives upon the desert island. Needless to say. this wee refugee immediately became the pet of the studio, the incident suggesting the plot of Alter the Storm (to be released November 18th). The cast also includes:— Harry Meter, "Rev. Jero'd Roper " ; Louise Lester, " Meg Fortell" ; Jack Richardson. " Jacques Fortell"; and Walter Spencer, " Lloyd Perry." FILMING AN AVALANCHE Picture-making 12,000 feet above Sea-level. WE have just bsen favoured with a \i-it From Frederick Burlingham, freer] from his sojourn in Switzerland where he has at last successfully filmed the ascent of .Mont Blanc. It was Mi-. Burlingham who less than two ye;. is ago made bis wonderful descent into the crater of Vesuvius for the purpose of obtaining moving photographs, ami some of our readers may 1 1 -member (he graphic description of this intrepid photographer's adventures inside tin volcano which we published in THE PlOTUEBGOBB for January 17th, I'M I. Now, instead of going down into the bowel-, of a burning mountain and •jetting nearly burned to death. Mr. I'.iu lii gham has recently climbed to (lie top ot t he highest mountain in Europe and I n nearlj frozen to death. The film which he has brought home of the ascent of Mont Blanc is one of the most extraordinary, brilliant, aid interesting scries of photographs we have ever had the pleasure of looking upon. Whilst on Mont Blanc, for instance, at an altitude of over 10.000 feet, he had the luck to catch with his camera ar. enormous avalanche falling thousands of Eeei from Mont Maudit, a buttress of the great white mountain. Owing to the distance the avalanche lad to tall it remains quite a long time on the screen, and we may watch the displacements of air and the consequent gyrations of the falling dcivis. The roar of the avalanche startled Cliamonix. >i\ miles away. " To get such a picture," Mr. Burlingham told us, 'vwas some recompense for the hard luck 1 have had on Mount Blanc. ■' For three years 1 have been working to show British audiences the wonders of the highest mountain in Central Europe. On the first occasion we wi all Dearly killed by an avalanche falling from the Aiguille tin Midi, rocks tearing up the glacier all around us and passing over our heads. My wife, who was with nie.in trying to escape, fell and cracked a rib. At the altitude of 14.000 feel the weather became bo threatening thai . f. ,,, ,-d to seeksheUer in the Refuge Yallot. Then the wind inc gale, and we had 60 abandon the eipe■ dition and descend in a blizzard. One may imagine such a storm when it is stat. J that the -now was so blinding that a party of Swiss climbers conlAnot find the Refuge Yallot, and one of their number was fr6z< n to death. But I was determined to succeed. never-having yet failedt and .three weeks later I returned to London with a very fine :. s Then hard luck again cropped up. Before a single copy had been made from the negative this Mont Blanc picture was totally destroyed in the B. and C. fin in Endell Sti ' Last year, however. I continued tieassault, and was actually at the Grands Mulcts at 10,p90feet whepihe war broke out. Can yon beat that ? At dawn fi this great height we saw with a ' scope. 7.000 feet below, troop-trains leaving, and assome "t my guides had to be at Annecy within the first twenty. four hours we abandoned the climb and returned. "This year 1 believe in perseverance I again started with guides minus fingers or thumbs, or having lost their toes through frostbites', and without trouble we readied the " Junction." 1 have never seen these glaciers in such chaotic condition. We could not cross the crevasses, and were breed to take to the Ciands Mulets rocks at their . base. The maze was so intricate that a second caravan tried to follow us. lost their way on two succesisve days, and was forced to abandon the idea. " We had planned to sleep at the Refuge Yallot. but we found it inside one solid cake of ice ! For three days, however, the weather was tine, and at last I succeeded in finishing my work. My pictures show the ascent of Mont Blanc from the start to the topmost summit." " And what a splendid film yon have brought US to prove it!" we remarked. •■ But your difficulties were huge indeed, Mr. Burlingham. '■ Ye-." he answered ; "but then they have their compensations. If such were easy, everybody would be doing it : whereas, in the ease of Mont Blanc. I am told that this is the only satisfactory negative in exist , nee." When you see this film you will admire, as we did. those glorious mountains of snow and ice. and the phi. that small party of men roped together t Q minimise the risk of falling down some awful abyss, and J > our 3j theatre chair it will still be difficult to realise the dangers, the suffering and the intense cold that were undergone in order to show us some v,t these sublime aspects of nature. We understand that this remarkable moving-picture has been acquired from K Frieur and Co., Ltd.. by Eclipse Exclusnes. and that it will be relcad by them shortly.