Exactly 100 years ago, in an article in Collier’s magazine in 1924, the film director DW Griffith made the following prediction: “In the year 2024 the most important single thing which the cinema will have helped in a large way to accomplish will be that of eliminating from the face of the civilised world all armed conflict.” He added: “Pictures will be the most powerful factor in bringing about this condition. With the use of the universal language of motion pictures the true meaning of brotherhood of man will have been established throughout the Earth.”
