Civilization (1915)

Christ takes on the form of a pacifist count to end a senseless war.

Directors:

Reginald Barker, Thomas H. Ince

Writer:

C. Gardner Sullivan

Stars:

Howard C. Hickman, Enid Markey, Lola May

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Howard C. Hickman	...	Count Ferdinand
Enid Markey	...	Katheryn Haldemann
Lola May	...	Queen Eugenie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kate Bruce	...	A Mother
J. Frank Burke	...	Luther Rolf - The Peace Advocate
Claire Du Brey
George Fisher	...	The Christ
Charles K. French	...	The Prime Minister
Thomas H. Ince	...	Himself - in Prologue
Herschel Mayall	...	The King of Wredpryd
Fanny Midgley
J. Barney Sherry	...	The Blacksmith
Jerome Storm	...	The Blacksmith's Son
Ethel Ullman	...	The Blacksmith's Daughter
Woodrow Wilson	...	Himself - in Prologue

Storyline

Allegorical film about peace. A king starts a war, many of the women are against it, people are pressed into service. A count has constructed a submarine and gets the order to sink an ocean liner, that is also carrying - supposedly - ammunition for the enemy. The count refuses to fire the torpedos, and sinks the submarine. He survives, but in a limbo between death and life where he meets Jesus, who takes him over to preach peace. Naturally the king arrests him and sentences him to death for treason, but then Jesus shows him the real face of war.

---

Plot Keywords:

national film registry | submarine | torpedo | one word title | fictional war | 

---

Taglines:

Every woman who has a son; every man who has a mother, should see this masterpiece of startling realism. (Print Ad- Dubuque Times-Journal, ((Dubuque, Iowa)) 18 January 1916)

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

2 June 1916 (USA)

Also Known As:

Civilisation

Filming Locations:

Inceville, Santa Ynez Canyon, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Thomas H. Ince Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

William Cochrane, who was the press representative of the Democratic National Committee, is quoted as claiming this film helped Woodrow Wilson beat Republican Charles Evans Hughes in the 1916 presidential election. Producer Thomas H. Ince claimed that Wilson's slogan, "He kept us out of war", was the inspiration for the film.

---

Connections

Featured in Hollywood (1980)

User Reviews

Thomas Ince, the Auteur

Thomas H. Ince was one of the independents, who established Hollywood as the motion picture capital of the world to avoid the strong-arm of the Motion Picture Patents Company. He introduced the studio system: the assembly-line production of movies headed by producers. William S. Hart Westerns are probably Inceville's most notable product. They're certainly better than this, "Civilization", which, I suppose, must have been a more personal product than usual for Ince, with its obvious pacifist message.

In this fictionalization of the Great War, a German commander commits treason, sabotages his submarine and kills the crew to prevent the torpedoing of the Lusitania. It takes Christ's second coming to affect the German King, though. The story is ridiculous, with overdone morality and sentimentality, mawkish Christian allegory and over-use of intertitles. On the other hand, there is some nice photography, and the battle scenes, with explosions and smoke, are well edited, but that's merely the craftsmanship one should expect from the assembly line.