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The Spirit of ’76
(1917) United States of America
B&W : [?] Twelve? reels
Directed by Frank Montgomery
Cast: Adda Gleason [Catherine Montour], Howard Gaye [Lionel Esmond], George Chesborough [Walter Butler], Chief Dark Cloud [Joseph Brant], Doris Pawn [Madeline Brant], Jack Cosgrove [George III], Norval McGregor [Lorimer Steuart], Jane Novak [Cecil Steuart], William Colby [Sir John Johnson], Lottie Cruez [Peggy Johnson], Chief Big Tree [Gowah], William Freeman [Lord Chatham], William Lawrence [Captain Boyd], William Beery [George Washington], Ben Lewis [Benjamin Franklin], Jack McCready [Tim Murphy], Noah Beery
Continental Producing Company production; distributed on State Rights basis. / Produced by Robert Goldstein. Scenario by Robert Goldstein and George L. Hutchin. Assistant director, Carl LeViness. Cinematography by J.C. Cook. / © 28 November 1916 and 25 January 1917 by Continental Producing Company and Continental Producing Company of California [LU10068]. © 14 April 1917 and 3 May 1917 by Continental Producing Company and Continental Producing Company of California [LU10702]. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / George Siegmann was originally announced to direct the film. The film was planned to premiere in Chicago on 7 May 1917, but was banned by the Chicago censor board headed by Major Metallus Lucullus Cicero Funkhouser. Goldstein cut the film in an attempt to appease the censors and rescheduled the Chicago premiere for 14 May 1917, but police raided the theater and confiscated the shortened film print. A limited run in Chicago was achieved after further editing in 1917. The film presented by Goldstein at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, on 27 November 1917 and for a short run thereafter. The film was seized by the Federal Department of Justice and Goldstein was arrested for wartime espionage due to the anti-British nature of the film. Charges were that the film was allegedly financed as a propaganda film by the Germans. Before the end of World War I, the film was was cut to nine reels and distributed by Harry C. Pearce and H.C. McClung for propaganda pzurposes. The film was eventually officially released in 1921 after Goldstein’s ten-year sentence was commuted to three years by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and he was released from prison.
Drama: Historical.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) - Benjamin Franklin - George Washington - Native Americans - Paul Revere
Listing updated: 4 December 2023.
References: Barry-Griffith p. 73; Pitts-Hollywood p. 4 : Website-AFI; Website-ASFFDb.
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