Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/178

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��Popular Science Monthly

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��foundering. When the

water is lapping the hand- some chin of the hero and

the heroine is getting the

life, preservers from under

the berth — the director

shouts, "Cut!" When the

scene on the screen shifts

from this to a real ship

tossing about in a storm,

the illusion is vivid and

convincing.

But action for the director and the

actors doesn't stop here. In addition to

having the whole Atlantic Ocean dumped

into his par- lor just as the clock strikes noon, the poor rich

��The present widespread interest in warfare has occasioned the building of elaborate parapher- nalia for making motion-pictures

�����attempt in imitating the 1 2-inch siege howitzers employed by the Germans. The huge guns are constructed almost entirely of wood which is supplemented at all wearing points with metal. The guns follow the well known Krupp design faithfully. A recoil mechanism is pro- vided as well as a means for regulating the angle of the gun barrel. The wheels are provided with caterpillar treads to enable them to climb over rough ground. The powder charge used in firing is mixed carefully in the studio laboratory. In making the pic- ture the guns are drawn from the point on the "firing line" byatractordriven by a gasoline engine.

��K^

��The camera man, under the umbrella on the platform, is busily filming the wooden Krupps as they are Krupping away at the invisible enemy

��actor dons his summer tweed ten minutes later and hurries to another part of town to take j^art in a staged battle,or"warstufL" Here the directors arc compelled to resort to wliatever alternatives stage car])enters and studio me- chanics can devise. One of the latest of these inva- sions into carpenter shoj) realism is a successful

���All that glitters is not goltt ; :ill u'"'^ •"'■' "<'l "I steel. These are of wood — perfect imitations of the famous Krupp howitzers

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