Barbara Frietchie
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Herbert Blaché
Mary Miles Minter
Mrs. Thomas W. Whiffen
Guy Coombs
Fraunie Fraunholz
Louis Sealy
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Barbara Frietchie's eighteenth birthday is interrupted when she sees Union soldiers, who have taken control of her home town, Frederick, Maryland, foraging for food. Her screams bring Captain Trumbull, who arrests his men and, against her wishes, assists her. When Barbara's grandmother, who likes the Yankees, asks her to show Trumbull the flag given to her long ago by Thomas Jefferson, Barbara replies that she tore it because she hates Yankees. After Trumbull helps Barbara's brother Arthur elude capture on his return home, Barbara's attitude softens. When Barbara's father orders the courting captain away, the couple go to a neighboring town to marry, but the Confederates take the town, and Trumbull leaves. Arthur mistakenly shoots him and carries him into their home. Although Barbara prevents the Confederates from entering, she finds Trumbull dead in the morning. Enraged, her grandmother waves the flag, which Barbara mended, at the Union troops. Although Stonewall Jackson orders his men to march on, Jack Negly, Barbara's rejected suitor, fires and fatally wounds Barbara. Her grandmother covers both bodies with the flag.
Director
Herbert Blaché
Cast
Mary Miles Minter
Mrs. Thomas W. Whiffen
Guy Coombs
Fraunie Fraunholz
Louis Sealy
Frederick Heck
Wallace Scott
Anna Q. Nilsson
Myra Brooks
Charles Hartley
William A. Morse
Jack Burns
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The character of the young Barbara Frietchie, not appearing in the poem by Whittier, was the creation of Clyde Fitch. This was the first film of Mrs. Thomas W. Whiffen, who in news items was called the oldest stage actress. Regal Pictures produced a film from the same source which was released on September 26, 1924 by Producers Distributing Corp. The film was supervised by Thomas H. Ince, directed by Lambert Hillyer, and starred Florence Vidor and Edmund Lowe. In that film, Barbara and Trumbull are reunited at the end of the war. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.0260.)
