Volume II: Filmography

A MAKER OF GUNS

July 6, 1915 (Tuesday)

Length: 2 reels

Character: Drama

Director: George Foster Platt

Cameraman: Lawrence Williams

Cast: Arthur Bauer (Martin Wright), Morris Foster (David, his son), Mignon Anderson (Dolly, his daughter), Peggy Burke (Léonie DeLisle, David's sweetheart), Morgan Jones and Mr. Hahn (rival bidders), Wayne Arey, Ernest C. Warde, James J. Dunne, Lee Williams

Locations: Some scenes were filmed at the United States Arsenal at Watervliet, New York and in a bell foundry in West Troy, New York.

Notes: 1. Lee Williams' presence in the cast is conjectural. 2. Also see Big Gun Making, indexed under January 6, 1916.

ADVERTISEMENT, Reel Life, July 3, 1915:

"This offering rouses one with a jerk to the fact that this little old world of ours is not as it should be - and the plot is timely. Imagine a man who manufactures cannon; he takes pride in their power - shows them off exultantly and explains how many men they can kill with one shot. Oh, yes! He's got 'em perfect as science and dollars can make 'em. Then - bingo! The big kick comes on - his own son's life-blood is spilled over the battlefield by one of those grand guns! Can you see ACTING? can you see Mignon Anderson, Morris Foster, Peggy Burke and Arthur Bauer doing justice to it? YOU CERTAINLY WILL!"

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, May 15, 1915:

"A company of players, under the direction of George Foster Platt, visited the arsenal of the Department of the East at Watervliet, New York, recently. Some very fine views of the guns were obtained, some of the guns being the ones completed for the defense of the Panama Canal. The party also visited the Meaneely Bell Foundry at West Troy to see the casting of a 3,800 pound bell. On the return trip a one-reel comedy was taken on the boat. In the party were Mignon Anderson, Morris Foster, Arthur Bauer, James J. Dunne, and Lee [Lawrence] Williams."

Note: This latter film was Dot on the Day Line Boat, released July 16, 1915.

ARTICLE, The New Rochelle Pioneer, July 31, 1915:

"Morgan Jones, celebrated character man of the Thanhouser studios, enjoys a distinct reputation as an expert in the art of makeup. In a recent part he was mistaken for Count von Bernstoff, American representative of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Germany. In The [sic] Maker of Guns, a recent Thanhouser release, which is a hard-touching photodrama, dealing with an important international situation - the trafficking in ammunition and war supplies - Jones appears in the role of a foreign diplomatic representative, visiting America for the purpose of purchasing big guns. In order to effect a disguise as nearly as perfect as possible, Jones spent many hours watching motion pictures of the Ambassador and in studying his latest portraits. Needless to say, his efforts were more of a success than even he had anticipated."

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, July 3, 1915:

"Martin Wright, American manufacturer of ammunitions and weapons, determines to profit by the war in Europe, and sends David, his only son, abroad to represent the firm and promote the sale of his products. The young man sends back word that he has interested the representatives of two great powers, and that special envoys will call upon the manufacturer and draw up contracts with him. Wright, the maker of guns, is elated. He tells Dolly, his daughter. But she does not share his enthusiasm. In due time, the guns are sold and sent abroad. As time passes, however, the manufacturer becomes uneasy about his son. At last, David's valet returns alone. The son, his father now learns, for the sake of Léonie DeLisle, with whom he had fallen in love, while abroad, had enlisted in the French army. The valet also had volunteered, in order to be near his master. During an attack on a certain fort, guns of great power, bought in America, swept away their company. David Wright was among the first to fall. 'Fort Z - !,' repeats the maker of guns, dully, 'Those were my guns which killed my boy.'"

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, July 17, 1915:

"A two-reel number featuring Mignon Anderson and Morris Foster. It pictures the making of big guns in an American plant, the girl's father and brother being in the business. Views of this industry are of timely interest and these are well photographed. The girl dislikes the business intensely; later her brother goes abroad to sell the guns. He is killed in battle by the very munitions of warfare he helped to sell. The duel scene was nicely staged. The number is on the whole very interesting though it has no great dramatic strength."

REVIEW by Louis Reeves Harrison, The Moving Picture World, July 17, 1915:

"The recoil of brutal avarice upon those who live for profit, irrespective of principle, constitutes the theme of A Maker of Guns, and the treatment deserves commendation because of the sincere effort made to back up the theory with the semblance of fact. We are given a view of large pieces of ordinance and process of manufacture during the early scenes of a play, supposedly in the factory of Martin Wright. In fact, big guns of various models and caliber, from mortars to 14-inch breech-loading rifles, are shown in the process and manufacture, while Martin Wright goes over the works in company with his son and his daughter. It is the nature of things that the son should be enthusiastic over the scientific construction involved and that the daughter should be affected by their destruction of human life promised by the huge engines of war - woman is a creator of beings, man a creator of things.

"The son goes abroad after war and is declared in Europe and sends special envoys from clashing nations to negotiate for control of his father's output of cannon. These envoys meet at the house of Martin Wright and bid against each other in the presence of his daughter for weapons calculated to kill or maim all that woman has done to perpetuate the raids. The daughter objects on principle to her father's participation in the slaughter, but her objections are overruled, and the deal is made with one of the envoys. Martin Wright's son, meanwhile, remains abroad, becomes infatuated with a beautiful dancer, and embroiled in a duel on her account and finally, in proof of his devotion, joins a foreign legion in defense of her country. His return home is awaited with growing anxiety until, one day, news is brought that he was killed in battle by one of his father's guns."

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