Martyrs of the Alamo
About Martyrs of the Alamo
Christy Cabanne's picture covers the siege of Béxar, the Battle of the Alamo, and the Battle of San Jacinto. Sam De Grasse plays Deaf Smith, Allan Sears plays David Crockett, Alfred Paget plays James Bowie, John T. Dillon plays Colonel Travis, Walter Long plays Santa Anna, and Tom Wilson plays Sam Houston. In San Antonio the Mexican townspeople are shown as ill-mannered drunks. A Mexican officer verbally assaults Mrs. Dickinson (Ora Carew) and makes advances; she tells her husband Almeron (Fred Burns), who shoots the officer.
Cast & crew
More about Martyrs of the Alamo
D. W. Griffith produced. Cabanne wrote and directed from Theodosia Harris's novel Martyrs of the Alamo. Triangle Film Corporation distributed it. It also went out as The Birth of Texas.
Themes
Background
Released on 21 November 1915, it retells the 1836 Texas campaign from Béxar through San Jacinto and presents that campaign as a fight for Texas.
In film history
It is an early feature-length Alamo film, and also Fairbanks's first screen appearance, released after his starring debut The Lamb had already opened.
Making
Griffith, who had just finished The Birth of a Nation, produced the film at Triangle while Cabanne directed the company of players.
Look
William Fildew photographed the film, which stages the siege of the mission and the later battle at San Jacinto.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles. A music credit to Michael Boldt appears on the Wikipedia infobox.
Preservation
A copy is preserved at the Library of Congress and is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Douglas Fairbanks appears uncredited as a Texan soldier, sometimes identified as Joe. It was his first film role. His first starring film, The Lamb, reached theatres earlier.
- Juanita Hansen plays the old soldier's daughter and Augustus Carney the old soldier.
- The Wikipedia infobox credits music to Michael Boldt.
- William Fildew was the cinematographer.
- Richard R. Flores, in Remembering the Alamo, ties the film's picture of Mexicans in San Antonio to anti-Mexican racism in 1915.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive under the title The Martyrs of the Alamo.
Scenes
- A Mexican officer accosts Mrs. Dickinson, and Almeron Dickinson shoots him.
- The film stages the fall of the Alamo and then the Battle of San Jacinto.
Influenced by
- Martyrs of the Alamo (novel by Theodosia Harris)
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheMartyrsoftheAlamo)
