Cinema #20

Fresh uses and fresh possibilities for the moving picture are constantly being discovered. An account recently reached this country of its adaptation to target practice. The moving picture as arranged for the marksman’s use has a psychological attribute which the plain bull’s-eye and the bounding metal deer of the shooting gallery and the clay pigeon of the field never will possess. Cantering iron deer and harmless clay pigeons will never excite the sensations which the hunter or soldier or householder experiences when he finds himself with range of a live deer or facing the muzzle of a rifle in the hands of a soldier or a pistol in the hands of a burglar who has suddenly and unexpectedly popped up from behind a bed. The true test of marksmanship is ability to hit when face to face with the “real thing.” The moving picture now supplies for man’s gun practice what the moving target, representing the vitals of a ship, does for naval target practice, with the addition of an excellent imitation of an active and threatening enemy.

New-York Tribune (October 31, 1909)



Caption:
Preparing to Receive Burglars:
Firing at a thief in answer to the thief’s fire (on a living picture battle target)