For France (1917)
Drama | 17 September 1917
Director:
Wesley H. RugglesWriters:
Will Courtney, Cyrus Townsend BradyProduction Company:
Vitagraph Co. of America; A Blue Ribbon FeatureAccording to the 21 July 1917 Motography, "Every day for a week Andre Roosevelt, production manager for Vitagraph, and Wesley Ruggles, director, were busy at Huntington, Long Island, making battle pictures which will be incidental features of For France, a Blue Ribbon production....Director Ruggles has spared no expense in getting his atmosphere perfect. Every uniform, accessory, and gun is an accurate copy of those used by the armies in Europe, and even the soldiers were chosen according to their nationalities. Through the influence of Captain Johnston, Mr. Ruggles obtained the services of a large number of regulars from Fort Totten and also the Third Battery of the Second Field Artillery of Brooklyn. One of the big thrills of the picture will be a battle in the air between two aviators, one of whom is Edward Earle. The scene was made Independence Day at the Huntington aviation field and is said to be most realistic, the camera registering the machine gun hits on the defeated plane and showing the machine tumbling to the ground. In making these scenes, Wesley Ruggles rode with Edward Earle, and acting as his own cameraman, took close-ups of the battle while in the air."
The 5 January 1918 Motography noted that the location was "an exact duplicate of the Marne battlefield....More than a thousand troops of the regular army, most of which are now believed to be in France with the first American army, were used in this picture."
Some scenes in this film were shot at Huntington, Long Island. Scenes portraying the Battle of the Marne were shot between Huntington and Centerport with 400 U.S. soldiers.
Sources ...
According to the 21 July 1917 Motography, "Every day for a week Andre Roosevelt, production manager for Vitagraph, and Wesley Ruggles, director, were busy at Huntington, Long Island, making battle pictures which will be incidental features of For France, a Blue Ribbon production....Director Ruggles has spared no expense in getting his atmosphere perfect. Every uniform, accessory, and gun is an accurate copy of those used by the armies in Europe, and even the soldiers were chosen according to their nationalities. Through the influence of Captain Johnston, Mr. Ruggles obtained the services of a large number of regulars from Fort Totten and also the Third Battery of the Second Field Artillery of Brooklyn. One of the big thrills of the picture will be a battle in the air between two aviators, one of whom is Edward Earle. The scene was made Independence Day at the Huntington aviation field and is said to be most realistic, the camera registering the machine gun hits on the defeated plane and showing the machine tumbling to the ground. In making these scenes, Wesley Ruggles rode with Edward Earle, and acting as his own cameraman, took close-ups of the battle while in the air."
The 5 January 1918 Motography noted that the location was "an exact duplicate of the Marne battlefield....More than a thousand troops of the regular army, most of which are now believed to be in France with the first American army, were used in this picture."
Some scenes in this film were shot at Huntington, Long Island. Scenes portraying the Battle of the Marne were shot between Huntington and Centerport with 400 U.S. soldiers.
Sources conflict concerning the cameraman of this film. A review lists Jules Cronjager, while the 1918 MPSD lists Henry Cronjager. The actor portraying Monsieur Landeau may actually be Frank Andrews.
The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included this film on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021.
When war is declared, Gerald Ackland, a young West Pointer studying aviation in Paris, joins the French army as a pilot while his fiancée, Marthe Landeau, and her father seek sanctuary on the family farm on the Marne. Gerald is provided the opportunity to put his lessons into practice when one day, while flying a scouting mission over the Landeau farm, he sees Marthe being attacked by German soldiers. He swoops down from the sky, saving both Marthe and her father, and the three take refuge with the recently arrived British cavalry. In the morning, they are attacked by Germans, and Gerald, assisted by Marthe, helps fend off the enemy by manning the British machine gun. The French troops arrive just in the nick of time and Gerald, badly wounded, is transported to a Red Cross hospital where he is nursed back to health by ...
When war is declared, Gerald Ackland, a young West Pointer studying aviation in Paris, joins the French army as a pilot while his fiancée, Marthe Landeau, and her father seek sanctuary on the family farm on the Marne. Gerald is provided the opportunity to put his lessons into practice when one day, while flying a scouting mission over the Landeau farm, he sees Marthe being attacked by German soldiers. He swoops down from the sky, saving both Marthe and her father, and the three take refuge with the recently arrived British cavalry. In the morning, they are attacked by Germans, and Gerald, assisted by Marthe, helps fend off the enemy by manning the British machine gun. The French troops arrive just in the nick of time and Gerald, badly wounded, is transported to a Red Cross hospital where he is nursed back to health by Marthe.
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