Screen Opinions (1923-24)

210 SCREEN OPINIONS WEEKLY SERVICE Oar Opinion MORAL O'THE PICTURE— None. Sure Fire Series for Sporty Audiences One of the peppiest series in the market is “Fighting Blood,” adapted from the H. C. Witmer stories bearing this name. It’s a sporting series pure and simple, and more appropriate for the up-to-date theatre than for the nontheatrical program. Each story abounds in comedy with a punch all its own, and we are satisfied that “Fighting Blood” is headed for success. The situation in which a soda shaker, who has been seen by a fight manager demonstrating a mighty wallop, grasps the opportunity to make money for the purchase of an education, is amusing. His struggle against fear of his antagonist, together with the lively romance of the story, and the fact that he is just a natural born fighter, provides a good vein of comedy. The supporting cast is excellent, and sets and atmosphere are just right. “HUNTING BIG GAME IN AFRICA”— Educational (Series collected by H. A. Snow for the Oakland Museum of Natural History Expedition shows phases of animal life never before presented on the screen, in addition to scenes at Kimberley Diamond Mines.) Producer — H. A. Snow Footage — 9,000 ft. Distributors — J. J. McCarthy and Theodore Mitchell, 1476 Broadway, New York City Our Opinion Well Photographed — Assembled and Edited from Dramatic Angle The remoteness and inaccessibility of the African jungle, together with the fact that living things inhabiting it are in the majority beasts of prey, fearful of man and unfamiliar with his customs, gives an added glamour to pictures brought from the untraveled regions of the dark continent. The recollection of the Paul Rainey animal pictures is still vivid enough to arouse not only interest but comparison with the newer H. A. Snow series held up for inspection; and it is no reflection on the former if modern advancement in photographic facilities, and experience in editing and subtitling succeeds in making the Snow collection the more finished product. “Hunting Big Game in Africa” is a series of high lights in African animal life linked together by illuminative subtitles. In selecting the scenes which comprise these pictures the editors have been careful to choose those which were most startling and unfamiliar, with just enough of the reminiscent to be pleasantly sensational. Excellent showmanship is evidenced in keeping the drama of wild animal life in the foreground. This is relieved at intervals by a comedy element that is almost grotesque, in which hunters and cameramen, in a Ford touring car, pursue herds of wild animals over the veldt with the purpose of tiring them into a state of languor that permits of photographing at close range. Large herds of giraffe hurrying across the vision of the camera, jackass penguins by the million, it would seem, bathing on the southern coast, the huge-eared African elephant grazing in their native haunts or angrily charging the hunters in mass formation, monkeys £ returning from the water hole to the jungle, carrying their young on their v backs, zebras, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, wildebeest and many animals now almost extinct, are among the subjects presented. Lions, with their cubs, leopards and hyenas, are also among those present. A gruesomely thrilling sight is a congregation of vultures and other birds of prey standing by in anticipation of the death of a wildebeest about to succumb to the bites of the tsetsefly. In addition to this the picture presents scenes at the Kimberley diamond mines, showing the ceaseless line of cars carrying the clay to the dumping grounds, where it is left to dry previous to collecting the diamonds. Experts at work sorting the stones and clearly photographed closeups of superior samples, are shown. This collection of African pictures should prove a valuable asset to the exhibitor as well as to educational institutions. No Advertising Support Accepted!