Practically every photoplay of the Great War that has been released up
to the present time has been made up in part of scenes taken on one of
the fighting fronts, at the American, British or other training camps,
or during street parades and military reviews, these pictures having
first been made for news weeklies, official war pictures, or for
patriotic propaganda purposes. Fitted in as a part of a war story,
they greatly enhance the effect of those scenes which are entirely the
creation of the author's brain.
On one occasion, a certain Edison director was putting on a feature
which showed--as originally written--the sinking in mid-ocean of a
great liner. While rehearsing the scene on deck which showed the
passengers taking to the life-boats, he made repeated experiments with
certain lightning effects, none of which quite satisfied him. He also
had some trouble with one of the made-to-order life-boats. Finally,
rather disgusted with the way things were going, he decided to cut out
the lowering-of-the-boats scene and to have a fire at sea instead of a
mere foundering. In a very few minutes, with the aid of "smoke-pots"
and "blow-torches" a thrilling burning-ship scene was made, with the
people scrambling toward the life-boats. Later, several long-distance
views of the burning of a real ocean vessel, made by the company
several years before, were introduced with most convincing effect,
while the action of the story was in no way interfered with on account
of the change.
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