The American Civil War as a theme (as opposed to the Western, as a school) has almost
certainly been given more prominance in American cinema than any other single type of motion
picture. Almost always Hollywood has seen the Civil War through the eyes of the South, for
obvious reasons. Dramatically, the plight of the underdog is always the more interesting;
commercially, because it is safer! The South is still very sensitive in many ways, and
opposition to an important film in the Southern states could result in a serious loss of
revenue. The Civil War theme has invaded many different styles of motion picture.
"The Birth of a Nation" obviously is the classic example of the serious, considered
treatment of all phases of the conflict and its aftermath. "The Red Badge of Courage", one
of the few films to deal with Northern troops, was equally serious but tended to make the
war symbolise all wars, all conflicts between man and himself. Thus the issues involved were
never touched upon. "Gone With the Wind" of course is the classic example of the Civil War
shrewdly utilised to provide a dramatic backdrop for romantic drama. To a certain extent,
"Barbara Frietchie" falls into this category, although it has less romance and more war action.
The war was used for comedy and sentimental trifles too. The Keaton-Bruckman classic "The
General" was not only a brilliant satire, but a darned exciting picture in its own right too.
Currently on television, you may able to catch Hal Roach's Our Gang feature "General
Spanky" which, in spite of some wholesale padding, does have moments of glorious satire. It
also has hefty chunks of footage lifted from "The General", and a wonderfully satirised scene
of a Southern gentleman (Phillips Holmes) explaining to sundry Southern colonels (Hobart
Bosworth et al) that their cause is hopeless -- a scene that was played completely straight
in the later "Gone With the Wind". As for the sentimental trifles - perhaps they are summed
up best by those two charming Shirley Temple vehicles "The Little Colonel" and "The Littlest
Rebel". John Boles and Jack Holt in dire peril, and Abraham Lincoln playfully peeling an
apple for rebellious young Shirley!
And of course there have been the films dealing (for the most part sketchily) with the years
preceding and following the struggle. Usually these have been minor action films, a la
"Kansas Pacific" which used the forthcoming war as a reason for getting a "vital" railroad
completed in time. Up and coming are several quite ambitious films dealing with the coming
of the Civil War, one of them being the curious but nevertheless interesting "Seven Angry Men",
dealing with the abolitionist John Brown. A whole stream of westerns have drawn their
plot-lines from the war; how many times have we seen President Lincoln sending a young secret
agent out West to discover why the much-needed gold shipments are being raided? (I.e., Dick
Foran's "On Secret Service"). Andd how many westerns have paralleled the gangster films of
the calibre of "The Roaring Twenties" by showing disillusioned Southern veterans, cheated by
the carpet-baggers, being forced into a life of outlawry, or unwittingly joining the guerilla
hordes of Quantrill?
- - - - -
This preamble has no direct concern with our program tonight, except to emphasise the very
great stress that Hollywood has always placed on the Civil War theme, and to show that our
program consists of three examples of the various types we have discussed above - use of the
war for drarma, for comedy and for romantic adventure.
- - - -
"THE RIVAL BROTHERS' PATRIOTISM" (1910) and "COHEN SAVES THE FLAG" (1913)
We are repeating these two one-reelers, originally shown by the society a little over a year
ago, for a number of reasons. First of course, they obviously supplement our main feature
very well. Secondly, they were shown at relatively sparsely attended shows, so many of our
members may have missed them - to say nothing of the new members who have joined since then.
And finally, they are well worth a second look anyway!
There is no great merit in "THE RIVAL BROTHERS' PATRIOTISM", which is crude by comparison with
the sort of material that Griffith and Ince were making at that time. Nevertheless, it is
interesting as a fairly early example of the Civil War drama, bringing in patriotism, self-
sacrifice and the usual ingredients.
"COHEN SAVES THE FLAG" is both more interesting and more important. It's a little gem by
Sennett -- but filmed with the facilities of Thomas H. Ince, who frequently invited his friend
Mack Sennett to come over and use his extras, horses, and other equipment. In this instance,
Ince was shooting his famous "The Battle of Gettysburg", so over came Mack with Mabel Normand,
Ford Sterling and co., and shot a fine little action comedy against the really elaborate Ince
set-ups. The placement of the camera, the composition of the panoramic battle scenes, the
sheer spectacle of much of it must of course be attributed to Ince rather than to Sennett, and
as such it forms a particularly interesting comparison with Ince's much-later "Barbara
Frietchie". Not that Manck's contribution was negligible: the cutting, fast and dramatic,
shows how well Sennett had studied the methods of Griffith, and the final chase is both funny
and thrilling.
"B A R B A R A F R I E T C H I E" Produced by Thomas H. Ince - Regal Films, for P.D.C.
release. Copyright September 16 1924.
Directed by Lambert Hillyer. Adapted by Hillyer and Christine Johnson from the play by
Clyde Fitch, based on the poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. Foreign rights: Wm.Vogel Dist.Corp.
The Cast: Barbara Frietchie (FLORENCE VIDOR): Capt. Trumbull (EDMUND LOWE): Colonel Frietchie
(Emmett King); Jack Negly (Joe Bennett); Arthur Frietchie (Charles Delaney); Colonel Negly
(Lewis Fitzroy); Sue Royce (Gertrude Short); Mammy Lu (Mattie Peters); Colored Man (Jim
Blackwell); Fred Gelwex (Slim Hamilton); his drunken cohort (Ernie Adams)
"Barbara Frietchie" is a long film; its original length of 7179 feet means a running time, at
silent speed, of two hours. And we're glad to say that every foot seems to be there! This
particular print, a beautiful toned original, was quite a find: the few prints that do seem
to be in circulation are at least a reel shorter, and only recently the original negative of
the film was completely destroyed -- so original prints such as this one are very much of a
rarity.
First of all, in the interests of historical accuracy, a few words about Miss Frietchie. There
WAS such a lady, but there the similarity ends! She was an old woman who lived in Frederick,
Maryland, and it is alleged that she did wave the American flag from an upstairs window as
the Confederate troops marched by. No known records however substantiate that Lt. General
Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall Jackson, C.S.A., ever made those flowery remarks about not harming
her. Probably he never even saw her, and even if he had, he would probably have just considered
her a harmless old crank and tactfully ignored her. However, the story lived on, fostered
initially by a particularly banal poem. (A good many poems were written around Civil War
exploits, and may of them were quite fine. "Sheridan's Ride" by Thomas Buchanan Read was
fine stuff, and the ride was brilliantly put on film by Griffith in "Abraham Lincoln". But
"Barbera Frietchie" was a long way below that standard!) In the wake of the poem, Clyde
Fitch, a writer noted for inaccuracy and blatant flag-wagging, wrote a plena which, with
Julia Marlowe in the title role, became a smash success. (Fitch, of course, also wrote
"Beau Brummel" and the patriotic sagas "The Heart of a Hero", concerning Nathan Hale, and
"Betsy Ross".)
The film itself is not a great picture, due primarily to the flaws in the original play.
Naturally it was not possible to eliminate all the posturing and dramatic contrivances, since
this is what the paying customers were expecting to see, but director Lambert Hillyer, a
veteran of the best Bill Hart westerns, worked wonders with it. The exteriors are fine and
vigorous, and the photography sharp and neatly composed. The battle sequences are lavish,
and done with all the attention to detail that one would expect from a Hart director. This
really looks like all-out war; the fighting is savage, the horse-falls realistic, the riding
rough and exciting.
Although the picture is obviously an expensive one, Ince was not a man to throw money away
and there are one or two signs of corner-cutting. Occasionally a big (but dramatically
unnecessary) scene is merely talked about, rather than shownn. Once or twice a painted
background intrudes. And Ince makes full use of his own studio as a set! The scene of Lowe
arresting the two soldiers was shot behind the main administration building. Ince built the
studio in 1913, modelling it on Mount Vernon, Washington's home. The front of the studio
must be familiar to you all, since Selznick occupied it for a long period, and used it as a
trademark before the credits of all his films - a beautiful old Southern mansion, with green
hedges and lawn in front. Obviously this was too good to pass up, and accordingly Ince
built his whole set an Frederick's main street around the front of the studio! It most
certainly adds to the authenticity and to the production values!
(After Tom's death, DeMille used the studio, shooting "King of Kings" there, and finally
Pathe moved in. In the thirties ownership passed to RKO. Much of "Gone With the Wind" was
shot there by Selznick, Welles used it for "Citizen Kane", Ford worked there on "Fort
Apache" and others, and now it is used by Sol Lessor foe the Tarzan epics. It is located
a quauter of a mile down the street from MGM, and is next to the Hal Roach lot.)
You may also recognise one of "Barbara Frietchie"'s street sets - it was used later in
"The General" when Keaton tries to muster the troops in the climax.
Incidentally, this version of "Barbara Frietchie" was already the second one, a five-reel opus
from Metro having preceded it in 1915.
In 1924, "Barbara Frietchie" was undoubtedly one of the biggest of the thirty films that PDC
released that year. Later, with the advent of DeMille, their schedule became more ambitious,
took in more action material, and even found room for one or two genuine classics - like
William K. Howard's "White Gold". But in 1924, the Ince-Hillyer film seems to have been the
highlight of a year rather turgid femme-star vehicles at PDC. Other items on the schedule
for the year included "Another Scandal" (Lois Wilson); "Her Own Free Will" (Helene Chadwick);
"A Cafe in Cairo" and "The Siren of Seville" (both Priscilla Dean); "The House of Youth"
(Jacqueline Logan); "A Reckless Romance" (Wanda Hawley); "Ramshackle House" (Betty Compson), "Welcome Stranger" (Florence Vidor), "The Wise Virgin" (Patsy Ruth Miller) and - the only
film that doesn't seem to be a romantic star vehicle - "The Legend of Hollywood" with Zasu
Pitts and Percy Marmont.
The film was given a gala world premiere at the newly opened Piccadilly Theatre at Broadway
and 51st Street -- not so far away from our location tonight! The ads proudly proclaimed that
the film would be accompanied by "John Hammond at the Golden Throated Marr and Colton Organ".
The original score for the film made prominent use of "My Maryland" as its theme, and while
we can't duplicate the throatiness of the organ, we are doing our best to reconstruct a
score that should start the Civil War all over again!
The review at the time were full of praise for the film:
NY TIMES: A picture produced with charm and clever restraint; it is both dramatic and
patriotic.
Louella Parsons, NY AMERICAN: Lambert Hillyer, who has lately come to the front as a director
worthy of our most earnest, consideration, has not failed to get every ounce of drama out of
the play.
Quinn Martin, MY WORLD: A fine and glowing romantic drama, woven in bright colors over a
background of Civil War.
NY EVENING POST: Roaring cannon, marching and counter-marching troops, wild cavalry dashes,
the spirit of Dixie au naturel, romance under fire - these familiar ingredients of a Civil
War story are stirred by Thomas Ince until they jell.
Sam Comly, NY MORNING TELEGRAPH: If there ever was a costume play built for the single purpose
of pleasing the average fan, this is it. The Piccadilly audience most heartily gave vent to
their pleasure by interrupting the scenes with genuine applause.
Rose Pelswick, EVENING JOURNAL: There are several patriotic and thrilling war scenes,
splendid acting throughout, beautiful Southern settings, a good cast and an appealing love story.
Many scenes in "Barbara Frietchie" remained one of Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" and the
picture as a whole is a creditable job. The thrilling battle scenes and the unusually good
acting make it thoroughly enjoyable.
As for Ince's own publicity, it included the following classics:
A sumptuous and stupendous photoplay, "Barbara Frietchie" is the real heart-throb in that
epochal drama of American history played on the bloody fields of Gettysburg, Vicksburg and
Appomattox. It typifies the poignant tragedy that was in the hearts of the noble womanhood
of Civil War days, their men fought - brother against brother. Florence Vidor, who stars
in the title role of this epoch-making drama, was chosen to portray the great heroine because
she posesses in superlative degree that innate charm and beauty typical of the best of
American womanhood. Visually and histrionically, Miss Vidor is the ideal Barbara, and her
interpretation of the role places it among the greatest characterisations in the history of
the photodrama.
It's interesting, by the way, that this film was instrumental in healing the deep ill-feeling
between Bill Hart and Tom Ince, who had split up, bitterly, some years earlier. In his book
"My Life East and West" recalls how, unexpectedly, Tom had written to invite him to the
premiere. He was pleased and happy, although unable for various reasons to attend. Hart
writes: "'Life's but a welling shadow'. Just a little bit later Tom answered the last call.
I'm glad Tom wrote to me -- and I am glad that I wrote to Tom".
THE CREW AND CAST .... a few notes.
Edmund Lowe excepted (and his acting is currently restricted to tv) only one member of the
cast of "Barbara Frietchie" is still active in films. He is Ernie Adams - who was not in the
official cast of the film at all - but who is easily spotted as the shorter of the two drunken
soldiers. Ernie is still very active as a supporting player in westerns, serials, and melodramas
generally,: For the record you'll note that in the climactic scene, Vidor is reciting the words
of the poem, despite subtitles to the contrary. There is sorry doubt as to who played Lincoln;
our guess is Ralph Ince, Tom's brother, and a director, actor, and known Lincoln impersonator.
He was working with Tom at the time. Another suggestion put forward was George Billings, but
this seems unlikely inasmuch as Billings had starred in "Abraham Lincoln" at First National
only a year or two earlier, scoring a big hit. Even if he had consented to appear in a minor
role as Lincoln, it seems unlikely that Ince would have overlooked the exploitation possibilities
and would have billed him at least as a "guest star".
THE DIRECTOR: Lambert Hillyer is a wonderful veteran of the era who always remained
faithful to the western thrillers and action dramas that he loved best. Even now he is
directing with scarcely a break, turning out the slick little "Cisco Kid" tv westerns as
well as the "I Led 3 Lives" films for Ziv TV. An athlete who could and did double in
dangerous stunts for many of his stars, Hillyer made many of the best Bill Hart films (SAND),
THE TOLL GATE, THE CRADLE OF COURAGE and SQUARE DEAL SANDERSON) as well as Buck Jones'
THE BRANDED SOMBRERO, Mix's LONE STAR RANGER and any number of spectacular epics of which
THE SPOILERS was typical. In the sound period, Hillyer has been responsible for some fine
serials, some of the best Buck Jones, Jack Holt and Tim McCoy thrillers at Columbia, many
fast-paced melodramas and westerns at Monogram and for other companies. Initially a
cameraman, also a talented script-writer (and before that a newspaper reporter and track star)
Hillyer is really an all-round man with one of the most interesting careers in Hollywood
history. Undoubtedly he will get a little of the public credit that he deserves when George
Mitchell's article on William S. Hart appears in a forthcoming "Films in Review".
THE PRODUCER: Thomas H. Ince is too complex and important a character to deal with in the little
space we have left. Happily George Pratt of the George Eastman House is currently compiling a
book on Ince which we hope will see the light of day in the not too distant future. George has
put a lot of back-breaking work and extensive research into this project, which promises to be
a really remarkable chunk of film history. In passing, we'll just sat that Ince is strangely
one of the most under-rated and at the same time over rated man in movie history. His really
fine little early films, which he directed personally, were often quite brilliant, sometimes
the superior of Griffith's. One never hears them mentioned! Yet, in Europe in particular, a
cult has somehow spring up acclaiming Ince as a genius for the later, far less interesting
films like "Civilisation" and the Hart films, in which he had no personal participation at
all! His chief function at this tine - also a function of importance - was in establishing the
role of "production supervisor", the sort of job held by Dore Schary today. "Barbara
Frietchie" was one of Ince's very last productions, his mysterious death (too much publicised
and scandalised to warrant repetition here) following shortly afterwards.
THE CAMERAMAN: Still occasionally, though infrequently, active. A fine cameraman whose credits
include the superlatively photographed LORNA DOONE (Maurice Tourneur for Ince), ANNA
CHRISTIE (Blanche Sweet), THE BLACK PIRATE, THE GAUCHO, the talkie THE GLASS KEY, and towards
the end of the forties, a whole group for Allied Artists - IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE, HIGH
TIDE, THE GUILTY, STRIKE IT RICH, etc, etc.
A final word:"BARBARA FRIETCHIE" features a fine opening reel depicting the arrival of the
first American rattlers, the battles with the Indians, the revolution against the British, and
sundry other skirmishings - all presumably highlights from earlier Ince spectacles. And
the concluding reel has some patriotic flag-wagging the like of which has never been seen before
or since. We'll say no more, and leave you to discover the delights of these two reels yourself.
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OUR NEXT PROGRAM: Tuesday April 19:
"OTHELLO" (UFA, 1922) directed by Dmitri Buchovetski, with EMIL JANNINGS, WERNER KRAUSS,
Theodore Loos, Lya de Putti
And the following shorts: the remarkable, rarely seen "FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER" (1929) by
Watson and Weber; an unusual 1914 comedy-western "SAGEBRUSH TOM", written, directed by and
starring Tom Mix and two grand old Mack Sennetts - "A MAIDEN'S TRUST” with Ford Sterling and
the Keystone Cops, and LEADING LIZZIE ASTRAY with Wallace Beery and Louise Fazenda.
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THOUGHTS IN PASSING ..... brief thoughts, due to the shortage of space left! A number of
requests have come in for THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT, but not enough to make it possible right
now. Since we started out in January, we have been slowly creeping out of the red and into
the black .... when we manage to become reasonably self-supporting should be in about
three months, we'll be able to gamble on the quite expensive rental of this subject ...
unless of course we are now deluged by requests for it and guarantees to attend .... nice to
see Tom Moore getting such an affectionate series of obituaries in the trade and daily papers;
too rarely is this done. Matt Moore, the surviving brother, still plays occasional bits at
MGM (i.e., "The Last Time I Saw Paris") ... and Franklyn Farnum was an occasional guest at
Sigmund Romberg's after-show parties in "Deep in my Heart" ... another old-timer passes:
Charles Haefeli, stuntman and assistant director of "Four Horseman", "Merry Go Round", "The
Hunchback of Notre Dame" and others, died on Feb.12, aged 66 ... anyone know where we can
obtain a print of that delightful-sounding old Sennett "DON KEY, SON OF BURRO"? ..... Reigo
Hayakawa, Sessue's 20-year-old daughter, has a role in Fox's "House of Bamboo" .....
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COMMITTEE OF THE FILM SOCIETY: Dorothy Lovell, Edward Connor, William K. Everson
Program Notes and enquiries - William K. Everson
Manhattan Towers Hotel
2166 Broadway, New York City 24.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* Strangley, we neglected to name the cameraman. He is, of course, Henry Sharp.
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