controls the length of the title to be printed. In some instances it
will take ten seconds to read a title. Ten feet of film is therefore
necessary for insertion between the scenes to explain them. In other
cases three feet of titling suffices.

The film is then shown to the War Office officials, and once they have
approved it, it is packed in a safe and sent to General Headquarters in
France. Here it is again projected in a specially constructed theatre,
before the chief censor and his staff, and it may happen that certain
incidents or sections are deleted in view of their possible value to the
enemy. These excisions are carefully marked and upon the return of the
film to London those sections are taken out and kept for future
reference. The film is now ready for public exhibition.

CHAPTER XVII

THE HORRORS OF TRONES WOOD

Three Times I Try and Fail to Reach this Stronghold of the
Dead--Which Has Been Described as "Hell on Earth"--At a
Dressing Station Under Fire--Smoking Two Cigarettes at a
Time to Keep Off the Flies--Some Amusing Trench
Conversations by Men who had Lost Their Way--I Turn in for
the Night--And Have a Dead Bosche for Company.

I have just come from England after seeing the Somme Film well on its
way to the public. It has caused a great sensation. I really thought
that some of the dead scenes would offend the British public. And yet
why should they? It is only a very mild touch of what is happening day
after day, week after week, on the bloody plains of France and Belgium.
Bloody? Yes, inevitably so. There never was such dearly bought land
since creation. The earth in the Somme district has been soaked with the
blood of men. Sit out on a field a mile or two from our front line any
morning early, when the mist is just rising. Sit out there on the ground
which our boys have fought for and won. The place reeks with the
horrible stench of countless decaying bodies, and every minute adds to
their number.

But the British public did not object to these realistic scenes in the
film. They realised that it was their duty to see for themselves. They
had been told by the press; they had been told by Parliament; they had
been told by lecturers what was happening, but to no purpose. They must
be shown; they must see with their own eyes. And the kinematograph
camera performed this service. Has it justified itself? I put that
question to all who have seen the film. What ef