Picturegoer (1922)

UL I 1 7Z-i. I— I V_ I U K thing (we have never quite discovered what !) went " wrong with the works " after we had been speeding along the line for about fifteen iminutes. From my view-point behind the 'camera I could only see the back of the hero's head, but suddenly I noticed, with a idawning horror of the situation, that his ears were assuming a sort of green-grey hue, which isn't natural in a healthy and normal human being, and, after what seemed like hundreds of years (but what in reality could only have been a few moments) I realised that he had lost control of the ' gadgets,' and that we were running amok I Horrors ! We were the only two men on the engine. The hero, after many trial runs and explicit instructions, had been allowed to take charge for the purposes of the film ; and in a ghastly moment I knew that we two were journeying to eternity ! (And I wasn't anything like ready.) Many desperate Attempts to regain control proved unavailing, and, still automatically turning the crank. [ discovered that the situation had become too intensely terrifying for the actor. He had fallen in a dead faint to the door — and I was still turning ! I "No. Please don't mistake me ! It wasn't heroism — it was that iort of subconscious activity which nakes men do amazing things in imazing circumstances. I must have gone on turning to the bitter ^nd painful end. Although we Eventually stopped our mad flight hrough space by colliding with a Itationary goods train, when we Vere both ' whole ' again (weeks ater) and realised that a miraculous ate had saved both our lives (at he small expense of a severe shaking tnd many, many bruises), we learnt, oo, that several hundreds of feet of •erfectly thrilling ' pictures ' were escued from the camera. Less for unate than we, the camera had bst all her ' legs ' in the accident, >ut had been discovered, ' otherwise ninjured,' miles down the track. ind those umehearsed scenes which Above : Paul Powell instructing Ethel Clayton prior to the filming of a scene. Left : Filming a scene in "The Cinema Murder." I had almost unconsciously photographed were so good that much of the scenario was re -written in order to use them ! " And that's all about that ! " " Verily, a sufficient ' all,' " I gasped. " I can remember nothing worse than being mauled by a lion ! " quoth my second " subject." Filming a motor-car close-up. Even if his memory is a Pelmanised one, you couldn't expect him to do much better than that, could you ? " No serious complications," he continued, reassuringly. " I just calculated too strongly on the charm of my own personality, and persisted in getting a ' close-up ' of the delightful beast. But it didn't realise my charm — and it had to be shot before I escaped, leaving behind me a goodly portion of my right elbow." And even unto the third (and last) subject did I find that exquisite quality which is called Modesty. " I'm afraid the best I can do is to relate that, whilst photographing a real (not reel) fire, for a topical subject, I came near to being roasted alive. I could sense some perfectly marvellous fire effects which might be obtained from the roof of a building adjacent to the blazing structure. So I wormed my way through excited and hysterical crowds and gained my vantage point. Several of the firemen warned me that I was ' asking for it.' I quietly ignored their protests, and steadily ' turned.' "Engrossed as I was in the job of capturing the really picturesque part of the proceedings, I failed to notice that the flames had spread in an alien direction, and it was not until a warning shout came from one of the firemen that I realised that the buildings on the other side had joined in the merry crackle — and that I couldn't possibly get back the way I had come. " All the ' intense ' situations of the film-play ' fire ' were acted on that roof in the next few moments. I was rescued, after much difficulty and danger, by a courageous fireman, who, when I regained my senses, proceeded to give me a perfectly deserved ' dressing down ' for my stupidity.''