''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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Tod Browning. It was Browning's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

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, the same studio that made the popular Douglas Fairbanks 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 as Ben Merrill * James O'Shea as Tim "Banty Tim" * Monte Blue as Joe Bower * Al Joy as Gambler * Lillian Langdon * Bert Woodruff

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'' of

John Hay John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a Secretary to the President of the United States, private secretary for Abraha ...

, a familiar set piece in the repertoire of elocutionists, actors and other public speakers; the Kalem Company 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 drama films 1917 lost films 1910s American films