The Spirit of '76
Cast & Crew
Frank Montgomery
Adda Gleason
Howard Gaye
George Chesborough
Chief Dark Cloud
Doris Pawn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Half-breed Catherine Montour and her brother, Lionel Esmond, are separated at childhood. Catherine then goes to England where she becomes mistress to George III. Aspiring to become queen of America, Catherine enlists George in her cause. When the colonies go to war with England, Paul Revere announces the arrival of the British, colonists and British troops exchange fire at the Battle of Lexington, and the Declaration of Independence is signed. The winter at Valley Forge, the Cherry Valley massacre and the surrender of Cornwallis occur, during which Catherine and her brother fall in love with each other. They are about to be married when they learn that they are siblings. Catherine, her ambitions crushed, attempts to return to the king's grace but fails.
Director
Frank Montgomery
Cast
Adda Gleason
Howard Gaye
George Chesborough
Chief Dark Cloud
Doris Pawn
Jack Cosgrove
Norval Mcgregor
Jane Novak
William Colby
Lottie Cruez
Chief Big Tree
William Freeman
William E Lawrence
William Beery
Ben Lewis
Jack Mccready
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Your foul lies have aroused my wrath!- Walter Butler
Trivia
Robert Goldstein served 10 years in prison under Woodrow Wilson's Sedition Act of 1917 for producing this movie, because it depicted the British (who were our allies in WWI) unfavorably.
Notes
Producer Robert Goldstein supplied the costumes for D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and invested in it. Griffith, in turn, promised not to make a film about the Revolutionary War during the time that Goldstein was making his film. George Seigmann was scheduled to direct this film. It was shot in Hollywood and at Yosemite Valley, CA. This film, which reportedly cost $200,000 to make, was scheduled to have its premiere in Chicago on May 7, 1917, but was banned by Major Metallus Lucullus Cicero Funkhouser, the head of the Chicago censor board. When Goldstein attempted to show it on May 14, 1917, after cutting several thousand feet, police raided the theater and confiscated the film. It was later shown for a limited engagement in Chicago after objectionable scenes were omitted. Goldstein took control of the film from the creditors of his corporation and presented it at Clune's Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning 27 November 1917.
After a few showings, the film was confiscated by the Federal Department of Justice, and Goldstein was charged with espionage. It was judged that scenes critical of England during the Revolutionary War could arouse bitterness and sectional feeling against England, which could endanger its alliance with the U.S. during World War I. The battlefield scenes were also deemed offensive on the grounds that they might mitigate against troop recruitment. Specific scenes regarded as objectionable included the bayoneting of a baby by an English officer, the stabbing of an old Quaker by a Hessian, the dragging of a woman by the hair by English soldiers and the carrying of a young woman by an English officer into his chambers. Goldstein was sentenced to prison for ten years. Through the efforts of Harry C. Pearce and H. C. McClung, the film was recut to nine reels and used for propaganda purposes. According to a modern source, President Woodrow Wilson commuted Goldstein's sentence to three years in 1919 and Goldstein was released after having served less than two years of his term.
