User Reviews

A Revolutionary War picture based upon an incident of the stirring days of 1776. The story is dramatically told and holds the interest without flagging, from beginning to end. Aside from that the picture gives evidence of care in its pictorial features, of an attempt to make the costumes and scenery conform to the subject. Too little attention has been devoted to this phase of motion picture making, as has often been pointed out in these criticisms, but here is a serious attempt to provide a correct background and accurate costuming. An evidence of the care exercised in its production is represented by the fact that the colonial mansion which appears in some of the scenes, notably the one where Col. Roger departs for the war, was discovered in an old Connecticut town and looks as though it might have been standing during the scenes which this picture represents. More of this care must be exercised if manufacturers hope to secure and hold the attention of the best people in their audiences. The Kalem people have successfully shown the way. It should not be difficult to follow it in the future. It is not the first time the Kalem people have exercised such care. Many of their popular Southern pictures have been examples of accurate backgrounds and correct costuming. They have extended the same care to a more ambitious subject and the result of their effort is a notable film. Continued popularity is predicted for it. The gowns, for example, are all original, and are in the possession of the owners of the mansion about which the picture centers. Such absolute accuracy would not be always possible, but when it is, it has its effect. – The Moving Picture World, August 20, 1910