''Somewhere in France'' is a 1916

silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

motion picture A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

starring

Louise Glaum Louise Glaum (September 4, 1888 – November 25, 1970) was an American actor, actress. Known for her roles as a femme fatale, vamp in silent film, silent era film, motion picture drama film, dramas, she was credited in her early career with ...

and

Howard C. Hickman Howard Close Hickman (February 9, 1880 – December 31, 1949) was an American actor, director and writer. He was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. Career In 1900, Hickman debu ...

Directed Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), a ...

Charles Giblyn Charles Giblyn (September 6, 1871 – March 14, 1934) was an American film director and actor of the silent film, silent era. He directed nearly 100 films between 1912 and 1927. He also appeared in 23 films between 1914 and 1934. He was one ...

and produced by

Thomas H. Ince Thomas Harper Ince (November 16, 1880 – November 19, 1924) was an American silent era filmmaker and media proprietor. Ince was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for making over 800 films. Ince revolutionized the motion p ...

, the

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

was

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

by J. G. Hawks based on the 1915 novel of the same title by

Richard Harding Davis Richard Harding Davis (April 18, 1864 – April 11, 1916) was an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and World War ...

, which was also serialized in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''. The

production companies A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

for ''Somewhere in France'' were the

New York Motion Picture Company The New York Motion Picture Company was a film production and distribution company from 1909 until 1914. It changed names to New York Picture Corporation in 1912. It released films through several different brand names, including 101 Bison, Kay ...

and Kay-Bee Pictures. It was

distributed Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

through 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 Jul ...

. Glaum brings her

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

persona of a vamp to this

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

war drama.

Plot

An evil French woman, Marie Chaumontel (played by Glaum), is a spy for the Germans during

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 ...

. She vamps and seduces officers of the French high command, accumulating state secrets and then discarding her lovers. Chaumontel is the mistress of Captain Henry Ravignac (played by Storm). She steals some papers from him and gives them to the Germans, then escapes to Berlin. He is tried and found guilty of neglect. He then commits suicide. His brother, Lieutenant Charles Ravignac (played by Hickman), vows revenge on Chaumontel. Pretending to be a spy, he goes to work for the Germans and becomes her assistant. He poses as a chauffeur of her phony countess. When he gathers enough evidence against her, he turns the information over to the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

. Chaumontel is arrested by French authorities for her foul deeds and sent to prison. He is then hailed as a hero for damaging German espionage operations.

Cast in credits order

as Marie Chaumontel *

as Lt. Charles Ravignac * Joseph J. Dowling as Gen. Andres *

Fanny Midgley Fanny Midgley (born Fanny B. Tilton; November 26, probably 1865 – January 4, 1932) was an American film actress of Hollywood's early years, mostly in silent films. Biography Midgley was born Fanny B. Tilton in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter ...

as Madame Benet *

Jerome Storm Jerome Storm (November 11, 1890 – July 10, 1958) was an American film director, actor, and writer. He acted in 48 films between 1914 and 1941 and directed 47 films between 1918 and 1932. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and died in Desert ...

as Capt. Henry Ravignac * George Fisher as Herr Vogel *

William Fairbanks William Fairbanks (born Carl Ullman; May 24, 1894 – April 1, 1945) was an American actor. He appeared in over 65 silent era films from 1916 to 1928. Biography Fairbanks was born Carl Ullman in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Charles and E ...

as Capt. Pierre Thierry

External links

*
''Somewhere in France''
at the

AFI Catalog of Feature Films The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema i ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Somewhere in France 1916 films American silent feature films World War I spy films American black-and-white films 1910s war drama films Triangle Film Corporation films Films based on American novels Films set in France 1916 drama films Films directed by Charles Giblyn 1910s American films Silent American war drama films