Volume II: Filmography

THE COLONEL AND THE KING

May 16, 1911 (Tuesday)

Length: 985 feet

Character: Drama

Cast: Marie Eline (the child king), William Garwood, William Russell

Location: Some scenes filmed in and near Manhattan, New York City, including Battery Park, Pennsylvania Station, and Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, May 20, 1911:

"Upon the death of his grandfather the little George IV of Saxonia ascends the throne at the age of seven. His reign, however, is a short one; as a usurper, backed by a number of native soldiers, attacks the palace, imprisons the boy king and seizes the reins of government. King George is ordered executed in secret, but the man hired to do the vile deed is so touched by the youth and innocence of the little king that instead of slaying him he spirits him out of his prison. Fearing if discovered his life would be forfeited, the man places the young king with an immigrant woman who, with others, is about to sail for America. Arriving in New York, King George makes his escape, and hides in the city until his companion has been shipped to a town in the West for which she is ticketed. The following day the little fellow is found asleep in the doorway by a burly policeman. In spite of his protestations, he too is shipped out West, according to the directions on the immigration ticket that is found on him.

"Deposited on a lonely railroad station out West, the boy becomes thoroughly frightened, and eagerly accepts the protection of an army colonel, in command of a nearby fort, who meets the child at the station and is greatly taken with his winning ways. George's assertion that he is a king, is treated as a joke by the officers and men at the fort, where he is taken by the colonel, who grows fonder of him every day. When, sometime later, a delegation arrives from the boy's kingdom, having traced him into the fort, his identity is established. They bring him news that the insurrection has been quelled, and that his throne awaits him. But the little king promptly advocates, saying that he would rather grow up to be an American soldier. The disappointed delegation is forced to return home without him."

REVIEW, The Billboard, May 20, 1911:

"This film is undoubtedly the best Thanhouser film yet produced, containing a good plot, some very realistic and interesting scenery and very remarkably good acting. The story deals with a young king, perhaps five years old, who is deposed from the throne and given to an Italian immigrant to take to America. When the woman gets to New York with the boy he sees a chance to escape and leaves her. A policeman sees that he is tagged to Wyoming, and taking him to the Pennsylvania Station starts him on a journey. When put off at the station in Wyoming a colonel of the American army adopts him and teaches him some of the tactics of American soldier. Several months later his family has succeeded in having the usurper in Saxony brought to justice and the search is made for the real king. He is traced to the home of the colonel, who is innocent of the boy's royal standing, but who produces the boy upon the description given by the embassy. The young king abdicates, stating that he will become an American soldier instead of going back to the throne of Saxony."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, May 21, 1911:

"The king is dead! Long live the king! A little boy ascends the throne of a European principality to be cast aside by a relative and thrown into prison. Instead of being murdered, as ordered, the boy is given to a peasant enroute for America and he is taken across the sea, journeying via Ellis Island, New York, to a Western town, where he is fathered by a United States Army colonel. The partisans of the boy king overthrow the rule of the false prince and scour the world to find the little boy. Through the Secretary of State at Washington he is located, but when at last found by his courtiers, he refuses to return home, declaring his intention of becoming an American soldier. This latter ending is stretching the imagination a bit too far, and through it makes a popular appeal in the minds of American audiences, it would have been truer to probabilities to have had him return to his own land and there take up his duties as sovereign. The story is well told, and the scenes at the immigrant station in New York, in Battery Park, before the Pennsylvania Railroad depot, and in his new home are each well taken and lend a local color that is most praiseworthy. The early scenes are also well put on, and the play is commendably acted."

REVIEW in "Film Charts," The Moving Picture News, May 20, 1911:

"Start: Kingship

"Finish: Americanism

"Moral: Oh, ye kings, despair not; America is here

"Reception: Big

"Biggest moment: When the little king becomes a plain American"

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

"In this picture little Marie Eline takes the leading part. Its charm is her personality. Among other interesting scenes, we see her, as the little outcast king, coming into the Land of the Free through Ellis Island. His little majesty has a good time giving his guardian the slip in Battery Park, New York City, meets a big policeman, who puts him on the train at the new Pennsylvania railroad station. The picture pleased."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 24, 1911:

"A decidedly unique little story is unfolded in this film, introducing scenes around and about Ellis Island, the Emigrant Station, and Battery Park, New York City. The story has added charm by the ever pleasing acting of the clever little Marie Eline. When at the death of his father little George IV of Saxonia ascends the throne, the coronation is interrupted by an usurper. George is imprisoned, but the jailer cannot complete his mission to take his prisoner's life. He bribes an emigrant woman going to America to take the boy along with her. At Battery Park he is lost, but is found later by a policeman, taken to the Pennsylvania Station and shipped West, as his emigrant tag indicates. At the end of his journey he is adopted by a colonel who believes him to be an orphan, and he is forthwith brought up as a young American soldier. When he is traced thither by the powers of Saxonia, he declares he does not want to be a king but an American soldier, and signs away his rights - a sentimental but hardly logical conclusion."

# # #