| |
 |
| |
Francis Ford (seated, left).
Photograph: Silent Era image collection.
|
The Burning Brand
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Francis Ford
Cast: Francis Ford, J. Barney Sherry, Clifford Smith
New York Motion Picture Company production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [Broncho]. / Produced by Thomas H. Ince. / Released 1 January 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Lieut. Cole is a prime favorite at the fortress, and his love is reciprocated by Vera, the daughter of the Colonel. He asks for her hand in marriage, and the Colonel gives his consent, but when the chaplain is called in he tells them the wedding cannot take place, and, sending the girl from the room he tells them of a secret he has regarding Cole’s birth. The story as told is pictured in the film, showing Cole’s father wooing and winning an Indian maid, secretly, being married by the chaplain who tells the story. At the birth of their child, Lieut. Cole, the chaplain acted as godfather and placed about the neck of the infant a gold chain. Prior to the birth of the boy the Indians, resenting her marriage to a white man, had branded the Indian girl’s forehead with a cross, and the child was born with a birthmark in the shape of a cross on its forehead. The father was killed, and to prevent its being harmed, the Indian girl left the baby at the gate of the fort one night. The chaplain knew the parents of the infant from the gold chain about its neck. The baby was cared for by the chaplain, and as it grew up became the mascot of the fort. The chaplain had guarded the secret, and the boy became a stalwart man, enlisted as a soldier and won a lieutenancy. The kindly old chaplain in telling his story had endeavored to be as tender and gentle as possible. Lieut. Cole, however, raged at the hand of fate which had intervened to darken his life at this time. All the wild blood of his Indian ancestors, which had lain dormant all his life, surged riotously through his veins, and he ran to his room cursing his birth and the white race. He tore the buttons and epaulets from his uniform and dashed them to the floor, and without a farewell to any of the people who had raised him he went to the Indian village. His knowledge of war commanded the respect of the redskins and they made him chief, and with a fierce desire for vengeance burning in his heart he drilled the Indians until they were as perfect as the soldiers at the fort. When the Indians went on the warpath a detachment of soldiers is sent out to check them, and instead of meeting a disorganized body of redskins they are amazed to find their opponents being led by an able chief, who maneuvers them into an ambush and slaughters them in a terrific fight. The victorious Indians march on to the fort, and the frightened settlers hurry to the fort for protection. A messenger is dispatched to the next fort for aid, as the Colonel realizes the seriousness of the situation. The battle rages with tremendous fury, and the Colonel realizes that it is but a matter of a few hours before the fort will be taken. He sends up a flag of truce and mounts the stockade. To his astonishment, Cole comes up to speak with him, dressed in war paint and feathers. Cole agrees to withdraw the Indians if the Colonel will give him his daughter. The soldiers, lashed to fury by this request, shout their determination to fight to the death, and the Colonel draws his revolver, and holding it at the head of his daughter, tells Cole that he will kill her with his own hand before he will permit her to fall into Cole’s hands. The danger to the woman he really loves brings Cole to his senses, and as the angry Indians renew the attack he tries to stop them. Infuriated, the Indians turn upon him and be goes down beneath a rain of blows. The soldiers from the next fort have received the message for help, and are coming to the rescue as fast as their horses can carry them. The Indians are surprised by the cavalry which swoops down upon them, and are soon routed. The body of the dying Cole is brought into the fort, and, forgiven for his acts, he passes away with the old Chaplain’s arms about him.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 4 January 1913, page ?] A two-reel offering which will come near reopening the old question of marriage between a white girl and an Indian. Some will say the story is impossible and unnecessary, but however that may be, it is certainly strongly presented. From the time the young soldier learns that he cannot marry the white girl he loves, because his mother was an Indian, there is a great deal of exciting action. He tears off his uniform and goes out into the desert to die. The Indians find him and recognize him as the son of Winona, by the cross mark on his forehead. He drills the Indians and encourages them to make warfare on the whites. He demands the girl as a token of surrender, but her father says he will kill her rather than give her up. In the end the half-breed is killed. A production of the intense, gripping kind.
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 15 November 2022.
References: Gallagher-Ford p. 9; Magliozzi-Treasures n. 5309 : ClasIm-224 p. 42 : Website-IMDb.
|
