The First World War

The world's film libraries, known and hitherto unknown, passed through the editorial hands of Laurence Stallings to sum up the results obtained in "The First World War." It is an excellent job of its kind, intensified by the cryptic but effective narrative of Pedro de Cordoba. Epoch-making events in the light of the backwash of the Great War here parade themselves in authentic newsreel shots, climaxed by the clips themselves and dramatized as no Hollywood studio could do it by the inherent drama of the incidents. The story of preparation for the conflict, as seen through the camera's eye traveling through many countries, is told through a sort of prelude and terrific, awe-shaking war shots concentrated into one grand melee of carnage with no particular attention fastened on the combatants of any nation. "The First World War," as impressive and as unrelieved as it is, thus becomes a dubious quantity as straight entertainment goes. Rather, it is a serious, thought-provoking document of how nations and men can so quickly shed their veneer of civilization on the twin altars of political and economic gain. The picture will require extensive and intensive exploitation to get it by these continued depressed times. Deserving of a break because it rates, "The First World War" becomes a questionable grosser.