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to proceed with his experiment of longer productions, for the following year D. W. Griffith presented his three-reel picture, “ Judith of Bethulia.” Two years later (1915) came “The Birth of a Nation," in twelve reels, a two-hours show which had the effect of revolutionising every previous conception as to the possibilities of screen entertainment, as an industry fourth only in importance to all other national activi- ties. In dealing so briefly with a form of entertainment whose products are eagerly looked for in the 89,000 picture theatres of the world by a weekly audience of 200 millions, it is worth taking contrasting glances at certain phases of its development. When the War came, British pro- duction, after a series of highly successful pictures from The Ideal, London Film, Cecil Hepworth, William Barker and other studios, came to a definite standstill. leaving the field open to America, then unshackled by interests in the world drama. For years British studios had supplied America with a large proportion of its screen entertainment. That now ceased. Our American cousins, on the other hand, had arrived at a stage where at the beginning of the War they could look to serve 13,000 picture theatres and guarantee themselves ample financial support. It was on this rock the British industry foundered. To-day, twenty years later, Britain has regained a position she should never have lost, its best productions taking equal rank with the greatest American successes. A scene from a one-reel version of “ Romeo and Juliet," with Florence Law- rence and Paul Panzer. Florence Lawrence was six- teen years of age at this time. She now plays character roles in films. “ A Tale of Two Cities ” was the first three-reel film pro- duced by J. Stuart Blackton in 1911 . Norma Talmadge had her first small part in this film, and the cast included It will be useful to reckon up what has happened during the past forty years. Film acting, with its crude notions of facial play, gesticulation and physical action, has been mightily transformed since the early days when Bronco Billy, Maurice Costello, King Baggot, Warren Kerrigan, Hobart Bos- worth and Francis X. Bushman, finding their way from screen to stage, pioneered a better style of miming which gave way to the still more sensitive acting seen in Henry B. W^thall s work. With Chaplin and Lloyd providing a more subtle 5