''Lest We Forget'' is a 1918 American

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

espionage drama silent film directed by Leonce Perret and produced by and starring

Rita Jolivet Marguerite Lucile Jolivet (25 September 1884 – 2 March 1971), known professionally as Rita Jolivet, was a British actress in theatre and silent films in the early 20th century. She was known in private life as the Countess Marguerita de ...

. The film was released by the

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at le ...

company. While the picture is essentially a spy film, it may also be considered a

propaganda film A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

popular during World War I.

Plot

The film was a live action film about the 1915 ''

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...

'' sinking (as opposed to Windsor McKay's animated film ''

The Sinking of the Lusitania ''The Sinking of the Lusitania'' (1918) is an American silent film, silent animated short film by cartoonist Winsor McCay. It is a work of propaganda film, propaganda re-creating the never-photographed 1915 Sinking of the RMS Lusitania, sinki ...

'' (1918)). Actress Rita Jolivet was a survivor of the sinking and much of what is known about the last moments of her producer/employer Charles Frohman is related from her. This film made famous his last words, "..Why fear death for it is the most beautiful adventure in life."

Cast

as Rita Heriot *

Hamilton Revelle Hamilton Revelle (31 May 1867 – 11 April 1958) was a British-born stage and later silent screen actor. Biography He was born Arthur Lloyd Hamilton Engstrom at Moorish Castle in Gibraltar, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. His parents ...

as Harry Winslow * L. Rogers Lytton as Baron von Bergen *Kate Blancke as Madame Heriot *Clifford Saum as Fritz Muller *Emil Roe as Mayor Le Roux *Henry Smith as General Joffre *Gaby Perrier as Young Mother *Texas Cooper *H. P. St. Leger *

Ernest Maupain Ernest Maupain (1869–1944) was a French film actor who appeared in many American films during the silent era. He played the role of Professor Moriarty in the 1916 Essanay Studios film ''Sherlock Holmes''.Kabatchnik p.167 Selected filmography * ' ...

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''Lest We Forget'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required cuts of, in Reel 1, the intertitle "Why marry her?", Reel 3, that part of the scene in the telegraph office where officer throws young woman over table and is shown bending over her, Reel 4, the intertitle "Go, all of you — I will avenge this", and, Reel 7, the cutting of telephone wires.

Preservation status

The film survives in a fragment at

George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection The George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York comprises about 28,000 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and experimental moving images. The collection is renowned for its holdings of silent f ...

with more complete copies at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and

Cinémathèque Française A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...

.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', page 102, c.1978 by The American Film Institute

References

External links

* {{Léonce Perret 1918 films American silent feature films Films directed by Léonce Perret American black-and-white films 1910s war drama films American World War I propaganda films Metro Pictures films 1918 drama films 1910s American films Silent American war drama films 1910s English-language films American spy drama films English-language war drama films English-language spy drama films