OLD AND MODERN FILMS
Sat,—I am a young man of twenty years. Recently I was taken to see my first silent film, " The Birth of a Nation." I will confess I went expecting the worst, probably badly cut, over-acted, the players with dead white pans and the film as a whole a very crude effort. So I thought, but I was wrong, so wrong ; for in five years of cinema-going (on an average of four films a week) I had never been so emotionally affected. I would say that up to seeing this terrific film I would have argued the merits of the modern film over what I had always regarded to be the films of yesterday. You will see that I was, to use a well- known phrase, " talking through my hat." The study of films and film actors of the present period has been my full-time hobby since I first commenced my film-going days five years ago. During this period I have never seen such effective acting as in this film. Who of the present crowd of screen actors could give a performance of such dignity, sin- cerity and complete masculinity as Henry B. Walthal did as the " Little Colonel "? Is there an actress who could give Flora, the younger sister, such grace and unsophisticated charm as did Mae Marsh? I do not know of any such actor or actress. Could our present-day films present such a spectacle with larger roles, smaller roles and extras all giving such consistently good performances? Personally, I would say no. How much of the credit for this film must go to Griffith as director, Bitzer as camera- man and the acting of the players I do not know or care, since the film as a whole will live in my memory as the first GREAT film I saw. I was so moved by this film that I felt many of my own generation, who laugh at the idea of silent films, should be given the opportunity of sharing my experience, and since I gather that " The Birth of a Nation " is now available, I hope that all film societies, particularly those embracing young people, will include it in their programmes.— Hazelwick Grange, Crawley, Sussex.
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