Volume II: Filmography

A WAR TIME WOOING

May 30, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 1,000 feet

Character: Drama

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, May 27, 1911:

"An up-to-date war story, dealing with the late unpleasantness in Cuba and telling about an affair of the heart between a young Yankee lieutenant and a pretty senorita. The affair demonstrated that love is actually a greater force than patriotism - that if a handsome Spanish maid loves a handsome American soldier and her country, she is sure to love the first the most, surprising as this may seem."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, May 27, 1911:

"A Spanish nobleman, who resides on his large estate in Cuba, goes to fight for his country when war with the United States is declared. He is a widower and his only child, daughter, remains home chaffing, because she too cannot go to the front. The father is killed in one of the early battles, and his old army friend brings his last message and his sword to the grief stricken girl. She declares she will devote her life to vengeance, and as it is impossible for her to fight in the ranks she decides to become a spy. Disguised as a dancing girl, she visits the public halls where American officers are found, and picks up much information of value to her country. On one occasion she meets a young lieutenant and despite her hatred of his cause, is much attracted to him. He saves her from the unwelcome attentions of one of his comrades and escorts her home. But the girl knows that the lieutenant has papers that would be of value to her cause, and decides that duty is more important than love. She lures the lieutenant outside the lines and aids in bringing about his capture. She also aids the lieutenant to escape through a secret passage in her home, but he is seen, pursued, and overpowered after a fight. But again the girl saves him, this time by the aid of the flag she once thought she despised."

REVIEW, The Billboard, June 3, 1911:

"A very thick and a very good plot is embodied in this film, but some of the scenes are so poorly put on and some places so overdone with horseplay that it becomes ridiculous. The setting is fairly good and the photography well up to the average. An American army officer is shot during the Spanish-American War, and asks his daughter to avenge his death. She enters the Spanish army as a spy for them, and while moving among the Americans, has one of them, a young lieutenant, whom she admires, taken captive. When he is within Spanish headquarters, she releases him, and he kills several of the Spanish soldiers. She summons the American soldiers, and a very amusing battle ensues. After it is over, the lieutenant is so grateful to her for having released him and summoned aid, that her wooing is evidently well started."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, June 4, 1911:

"This story of the Spanish-American War is a creditable effort on the part of the producers, being different in plot from the usual run of photoplays and very capably put on, all things considered. There is one inconsistency which goes toward marring it, but this can be forgiven on the ground of stage license. A Spanish girl receives a letter from her father, written on his deathbed, and adjuring the girl to take vengeance on his slayers - the American intruders. The Spanish general who bears the note makes her home his headquarters, and they plan to have her go among the Americans as a singer and dancer and to act as a spy. She does so, and at a cafe overhears certain plans (which, however, do not seem to affect the story much). She is insulted by one officer and defended by another, who escorts her away from the trouble, each giving the other a token of remembrance.

"Then she recalls her vow to avenge her father's death. So she entraps her new admirer. Papers which he carries are taken away from him and he is made prisoner, all through her ruse of meeting him by a waterside, where two Spanish soldiers lay concealed. She relents when he is brutally attacked, cuts his bonds, goes to the top of the house and, with an American flag, signals to his fellow soldiers, who answer the signal, and upon rescue him, after slaying most of the Spanish guards. It is hardly possible that the girl could go to the top of a house in broad daylight and wave an enemy's flag unseen by her own people. But it can be forgiven, as stated above. The American officer in the café scene would not be apt to talk over war plans and show papers in the presence of so many strangers. The business is not essential to the story. The closing picture showing the girl draped in an American flag is too cheap an appeal for 'kind applause' and mars the end of the story. The settings, interior and exterior, are entirely creditable, those of the house as viewed from the outside being especially commendable, really looking like a dwelling in Cuba. The acting is very good, the story is entertaining, and the military action is extremely realistic. Altogether, it is one of the best of the recent Thanhouser offerings."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, June 10, 1911:

"Here is a Spanish-American War picture, with scenes laid in Cuba. A Spanish spy, the heroine of the story, falls in love with a young American lieutenant and the complications which come of it make the story interesting. It is very well acted. The soldiers and officers are perfect, though the lieutenant striking his superior, captain, even under the provocation shown in this case, would probably have been shot, for this was in war time."

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