Civil war drama that is filmed well and features a realistic (if small scale) depiction of the aftermath of a battle. Kathlyn William ,who seems to be in everything Selig made in 1911, stars.
4 Reviews
1861 review
JoeytheBrit20 June 2020
Civil War Anniversary Film
boblipton14 October 2018
When a union officer sent on a scouting (read: spying) mission can't break back through enemy lines, he shelters for a few days at a Southern plantation. Later, his hostess, Kathlyn Williams becomes a nurse for the Confederate army. She takes some time off to search for her brother and finds him dying on the battlefield, being comforted by injured spy.
With the Civil War half a century past, there were a lot of films produced on the subject, and this is one of them. There were two rules. One was that they were told from the Southern viewpoint, since otherwise they would not be shown in Southern theaters. The other was that you had to be respectful of Lincoln, otherwise it wouldn't be shown in Northern theaters. This one is typical for the era, obviously shot way down south, and the Black roles were a mixture of blackfaced White actors and some Black ones. The scene of the battle's aftermath is quite affecting.
Miss Williams is currently the only individual identified in this Selig production.
With the Civil War half a century past, there were a lot of films produced on the subject, and this is one of them. There were two rules. One was that they were told from the Southern viewpoint, since otherwise they would not be shown in Southern theaters. The other was that you had to be respectful of Lincoln, otherwise it wouldn't be shown in Northern theaters. This one is typical for the era, obviously shot way down south, and the Black roles were a mixture of blackfaced White actors and some Black ones. The scene of the battle's aftermath is quite affecting.
Miss Williams is currently the only individual identified in this Selig production.
Desmet film correctly reidentified
kekseksa7 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This film is in the Desmet collection but has been wrongly identifed by the EYE institute as A Loyal Deserter. It is about a Federal Lieutenant called Allen who is sent on a mission but wanders across enemy lines and (wounded seemingly) takes refuge with Louise, the daughter of a Southern plantation owner. He is exposed however when he refuses to salute the Southern flag and is tracked down by her brother and cousin and arrested as a spy. Meanwhile Louise goes to work as a nurse with a Confederate field-hospital. A desperate battle ensues with Louise's brother Robert on one side and Lieutenant Allen, who has escaped and rejoined his regiment, on the other. Nurse Louise arrives on the battlefield to find both men wounded in the battle. They are not, as Eye suposes dying - this is a US film not a Russian one -but the happy ending is missing (deliberately?) on the EYE version.
Reidentified thanks to David Eickemeyer, it can now be found under its correct title.
Reidentified thanks to David Eickemeyer, it can now be found under its correct title.
War stories are always interesting and Selig has released some of the best of them
deickemeyer5 January 2016
One of Selig's excellent war stories. The dangers and difficulties which beset the soldier are well depicted and suggested, but there is a touch of humanity that is sufficient to overcome any impression of the spirit of destruction when the Blue and the Gray meet after the soldier in gray is wounded and he sends back the picture to the old home by the Union solider. War stories are always interesting and Selig has released some of the best of them. This one is as good as the others and holds the audience from beginning to the end. A special interest seems to attach to any picture which represents the work of a spy, or of a soldier sent through the enemy's lines on a desperate mission. While much the same scenes must necessarily be depicted in war pictures, there is an atmosphere about some that is different, and this is one of the different ones. - The Moving Picture World, April 15, 1911
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