Screenland (May-Oct 1930)

for October 1930 29 A true 'Griffith touch' — a tense moment with Lillian Gish and the late George Siegmann. go down to posterity ! Entire buildings were erected and burnt to the ground, but only the crackling of the flames will ever be known to movie audiences ! An entire picture of sound ! That's 1930. Experts attended this rebirth. No effort was spared. We will hear the cannon shots, almost feel the scorching of the powder, so realistic will it be. When the gray coats charge over the top, we will hear the fiery dramatic rebel yell — given, if you must know, by five very old gentlemen imported from Atlanta to do this yelling. Five very old veterans from the D. A. R. home whose voices will be spared for years to come, but whose faces will never appear ! We will hear the Klan, the Ku Kluxers as they ride, the hoofbeats far away, getting nearer, nearer, nearer, until they are upon us. This was made by running the horses in a circle with the microphone in the center. We will sit on the edges of our seats and shiver with Colonel Cameron and his party as the niggers b-r-r-ea-k-k-k down the door ! Days were spent getting this sound just right. Experts decided if they took the sound of a door breaking down, it would all be over in a minute, while they needed to preserve and prolong every crackle. So they slowed it down as a phonograph record is slowed down. And we can prolong our minutes of shivering ! It will be remembered that "The Birth of a Nation" in its original form was the first picture to be presented with special music and an entire orchestra was sent Above, Henry B. Walthall as the beloved Little Colonel — a classic screen portrayal. And remember Mae Marsh as the sweet Little Sister? Below, a scene from the new prologue to the revival, with Griffith telling the children how he happened to make "The Birth of a Nation." The unforgettable scene in Ford's Theater from Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation." around the country with it, and the roll of drums and the tooting of horns made our sounds for us. Now we shall have on the same sound track, a musical accompaniment to the picture, an orchestra of 100 pieces under the direction of Louis Gottschalk, whose orchestration helped make the silent picture the stirring spectacle it was. We will hear choirs of voices, negro melodies, national anthems, all with the self-same picture ! Might not the film be just — well, a little — perhaps a trifle, — er — faded, you may ask delicately? After all, sixteen years has been responsible for many a face-lifting? You're entirely right ! That's just what will happen. The original film will be put through a fountain of youth and come out, snappy, sparkling, peppy as it was in its early days. If some technical meanies inquire, it was done by running the film through two plates on which were running streams of gelatin, and in this way the original picture was restored to youth ! Again we will suffer with Little Sister, be ecstatic with Lillian, proud with the Colonel, fierce and determined with the Ku Kluxers as they ride. Sixteen years will be as nothing. We will have them all back again in this Re-"Birth of a Nation!" We will see again the brave and brawny Wallace Reid engage in mortal combat a score of husky culled pussons, and it's still a swell fight! We will see the touching scene with Joseph Hennaberry as Lincoln where he pardons Th e Little Colonel We (Continued on page 104)