Lost1911Thanhouser Company1,000 feetDrama

For Her Sake

Name: For Her Sake
Genre: Drama
Released: 1911-02-14

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“On the eve of the Civil War, a young Southern girl chooses between two suitors. The man of her choice goes to the fight under the Stars and Bars; the one who is rejected, his heart full of bitterness, throws his fortunes in with the Union. Later the young Confederate is captured and the officer before whom he is brought to be questioned turns out to be his old rival. But the man in blue is lacking in chivalry. He taunts his helpless foe, puts him in a cell, and by harsh treatment tries to break his spirit. The girl, hearing of her lover’s plight, determines to rescue him. She eludes the sentries, reaches the outside of the prison, and passes the man a file with which he cuts away the bars. Then the two flee, but at the last moment are discovered. A sentry fires one shot—aimed at the man, but the fugitives reach their horse and ride away.

“The Union officer, enraged at the escape of his enemies, takes up the pursuit himself. He tracks the pair to the girl’s home, which is just outside the Federal line. Whatever faults the Unionist has, he is not a coward. He stations his men around the house to prevent any attempted escape and, pistol in hand, enters alone. He wants the eclat of making his foe a prisoner single-handed. In his search he finds the door of the parlor locked. He pushes aside a feeble old servant, smashes down the doors, and finds the man he wants. But he does not arrest him. The Confederate, grief stricken, is bending over the body of his fiancée, laid out for burial. The sentry’s bullet, instead of killing a man, extinguished the light of his loved one’s life.”

Summary from The Moving Picture World · 18 February 1911

What the papers said

4 reviews · 1 advertisement

Read in full · 1 min

“Here’s a very good story, one appropriate for the holidays now upon us. The story deals with two lovers, one who joins the Northern army, the other the Southern. Both seek the same girl, the Southerner in an honorable way and the Northerner in a jealous, mean manner. In combat the Southerner is taken captive and is mistreated by the jealous Northerner until the girl finally locates him in prison and aids him in his escape. The guards shoot, and instead of wounding the rebel, kill the girl, whereupon the two soldiers become friends after they find that their object of their jealousy has been so sadly removed. The setting of the camps is very good and one that lends a decidedly martial atmosphere to the production.”

The Billboard · 18 February 1911

Read in full · 1 min

“What promised to be a somewhat different and interesting war romance was marred in this film through constructing an escape scene that was, to say the least, unconvincing. That a Southern officer, captured by a Northerner, his rival in war and love, should be so inefficiently guarded as to allow his sweetheart to approach the window of his jail, reach through the bars, cut his bonds and assist him to file his way through two solid inch bars and escape, is going some. The guard, who fires on the escaping rebel, wounds the girl, but they get to her home without further mishap. When the Northern officer arrives the girl is dead, and the two men patch up their differences at her side. The environment used for the old Southern home was excellent and selected with care and attention to detail.”

REVIEW by Walton, The Moving Picture News, March 4, 1911:

“A story of the South. Two men love a girl. War breaks out and one, an irretrievable skunk in the Union army, gets the accepted lover, a Confederate, in his power; behaves like a blackguard; the girl tries to release her lover and is shot. The Union man, thinking he will catch his rebel rival, sets him out with much show and circumstance to arrest the escaped prisoner and finds him by the side of the slain girl. Horror-stricken that passion has caused all this, the Union officer departs and leaves the rebel with his dead.”

The Morning Telegraph · 19 February 1911

More reviews2 · 25 February 1911 – 22 February 1911

25 February 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“A war story that is different, in that it has a simple and direct theme and is without much of the panoply and show of war. The central thought is the change it makes when two enemies are brought together over the dead body of a mutually loved one. This is what happens in the picture, and it displays the fact of war in its true colors. Assisting her lover to escape the girl is hit by the shot of the sentry, and when the men go to arrest the fugitive they desist. They find him bending over the dead body of his fiancée. This is a simple story, yet it is told with the directness and a strength that is irresistible, and develops a feeling of pity, as well as interest, in the minds of the audience. The acting and setting are in harmony with the subject. It would be hard to create anything better of the type.”

22 February 1911The New York Dramatic Mirror1 min

“A young Southern girl at the beginning of the war gives her heart to a Confederate officer, and the rival joins the Unionists. During the war the Confederate falls into the hands of the Union officer as prisoner. The girl hears of it in some manner, not quite clear, and manages by some process known only to herself to get through the lines and present her lover with a file with which to remove the bars of his prison house. Just as the two are escaping, the sentry enters and fires after the retreating figures, wounding the girl. The rival Union officer follows the two to the house, where in that short space of time the girl has been laid out on a funeral bier and the lover is mourning her death. The rival enters and mourns with the lover and leaves without him for her sake. The production has many good points and is marked by good settings and acting. It is thought, however, the point of the story, which is more possible than probable, would have been better brought out had the rival not been played as a villain.”

11 February 1911The Moving Picture World1 min

“In this you have the best kind of war subject, that which passes over pretty effects long enough to play up a plot. Certainly, brilliant settings don’t make a good war story, although they help a whole lot. But, after all, a stirring theme is the main thing, and it may be worked out in spectacular settings. The beauty of the present theme lies largely in its simplicity. Is there anything simpler to imagine than that the death of a mutual loved one should bring together enemies? With this as the central idea, the picture tells a moral that is worth something.”