Civil War movies were popular in the first half of the 1910s, culminating in D.W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION. The fiftieth anniversary of the conflict had it on everyone's mind, there were plenty of veterans still around and this was one of Kalem's contributions to the genre. Given that the Southern audience wanted one in which the Confederates were the good guys and that the North, which had won the war, was more relaxed about such things, this story about the hijacking of a Confederate railroad and its recovery by its engineer was a natural. The incident later served as the basis of Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL -- you can recognize several of the incidents from the latter movie.
So how does this movie stack up for 1911? Not very well. I don't much care for director Sidney Olcott's work, but this one has little to recommend it; it is title heavy, has little variation in camera-work and there are long sections when people just talk to each other with no indication of what they are saying. Try pointing a few fingers, guys.
Of some interest is the fact that director Olcott, as well as future directors Robert Vignola and J.P. McGowan act in this short.
So how does this movie stack up for 1911? Not very well. I don't much care for director Sidney Olcott's work, but this one has little to recommend it; it is title heavy, has little variation in camera-work and there are long sections when people just talk to each other with no indication of what they are saying. Try pointing a few fingers, guys.
Of some interest is the fact that director Olcott, as well as future directors Robert Vignola and J.P. McGowan act in this short.
