''Jim Bludso'' is a 1917 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...

. It was Browning's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

as a director. Contemporary sources are variable on the matter of whether the direction was a joint effort between Browning and the film's star,

Wilfred Lucas Wilfred Van Norman Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter. Early life Lucas was born in Norfolk County, Ontario on January 30, 1871,US ...

. In their book ''Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre,'' David J. Skal and Elias Savada suggest that Lucas' name was added to the credit for contractual reasons, and that Browning directed ''Jim Bludso'' alone. As ''Jim Bludso'' is presumed lost, it is uncertain what the original title card might have read in terms of directorial credit. The film was produced by the Fine Arts unit within the

Triangle Film Corporation Triangle Film Corporation (also known as Triangle Motion Picture Company) was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in July 1915 in Culver City, California and terminated 7 years later in 1922. History The studio was founded in July 1 ...

, the same studio that made the popular

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thi ...

comedies for Triangle, for whom Browning had previously worked as a scenarist.

Cast

as Jim Bludso * Olga Grey as Gabrielle * Georgie Stone as Little Breeches * Charles Lee as Tom Taggart *

Winifred Westover Winifred Westover, birth name Winifred Heide, (November 9, 1899 – March 19, 1978) was an actress of the 1910s and 1920s. Her career included films made in Hollywood, Sweden and New York.Bill Hart Is Married Here, ''The Los Angeles Times'' ...

as Kate Taggart *

Sam De Grasse Samuel Alfred De Grasse (June 12, 1875 – November 29, 1953) was a Canadian actor. He was the uncle of cinematographer Robert De Grasse. Biography Samuel Alfred De Grasse was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick to Lange De Grasse (1828–1891) ...

as Ben Merrill * James O'Shea as Banty Tim * Monte Blue as Joe Bower * Al Joy - Gambler *

Lillian Langdon Lillian Langdon (November 25, 1860 – February 8, 1943) was an American film actress of the silent era. She appeared in more than 80 films between 1912 and 1928. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Langdon was a descendant of Montgomery Pike, dis ...

Bert Woodruff William Herbert "Bert" Woodruff (April 29, 1856 – June 14, 1934) was an American actor of the silent era. Woodruff was born in Peoria, Illinois, and was the son of Mrs. Hannah Woodruff. He performed on stage before he began acting on fi ...

Plot

Engineer Jim Bludso and his sidekick, Banty Tim, return to Gilgal, Illinois after the end of the American Civil War. Upon arrival, they discover that Jim's wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man and abandoned their son. Kate Taggart, the daughter of a storekeeper in town, takes pity on Jim and they develop a fondness for one another. Gabrielle, now dumped, returns and Jim forgives her and resumes their married life. Meanwhile, a flood is coming, and Ben Merrill—constructor of Gilgal's levee—knows the structure won't hold against the tide, so he willfully causes it to fail and plans to blame the resulting catastrophe on Jim and Banty Tim. Gabrielle is mortally wounded in the flood, and her dying words implicate Merrill and identify him as the man who wooed her away from her family. Jim is on board the boat ''Prairie Bell'' when this news reaches him, as is Merrill; they get into a fight, and ''Prairie Bell'' bursts into flames and explodes. Jim is rescued and returns to Gilgal to marry Kate.

Adaptation

''Jim Bludso'' was a poem from the

Pike County Ballads ''Pike County Ballads'' is an 1871 book by John Hay. The collection of post Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the c ...

of John Hay, a familiar set piece in the repertoire of elocutionists, actors and other public speakers; the

Kalem Company The Kalem Company was an early American film studio founded in New York City in 1907 in film, 1907. It was one of the first companies to make films abroad and to set up winter production facilities, first in Florida and then in California. Kalem ...

had already made a one-reeler out of the same property in 1912. For the film, Browning fashioned his script from both ''Jim Bludso'' and another poem, ''Little Breeches.'' Much of the film's dramatic arc also came from a 1903 stage play adaptation by I.N. Morris. Hay's original poem memorialized Jim Bludso's courage and selflessness in sacrificing his own life so that the passengers on his burning boat might survive. For the film, a happy ending was devised and an entirely different set of circumstances led to the demise of ''Prairie Bell'', which Bludso is piloting in Hay's poem.

Reception

Film historian Bernd Herzogenrath reports that “By 1919, wo yearsafter profitable movies such as ''Jim Bludso'' (1917), Browning was an established and successful director and script writer.”Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11

Notes

Footnotes

References

*Herzogenrath, Bernd. 2006. ''The Films of Tod Browning''. Black Dog Publishing. London. *Rosenthal, Stuart. 1975. ''Tod Browning: The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 4.'' The Tantivy Press.

External links

* * {{Tod Browning 1917 films Silent American drama films American silent feature films American black-and-white films 1917 drama films Films directed by Tod Browning Films directed by Wilfred Lucas Lost American films 1917 lost films Lost drama films 1910s American films