The Fugitive
About The Fugitive
Two soldiers named John leave home, one Union and one Confederate. After a skirmish they meet in the woods. The Union soldier kills the Confederate and runs. He hides in the dead man's house. The mother, Kate Bruce, orders him out, then hides him when Confederate soldiers arrive with her son's body. She sends him away, then hides him again when they return. After the war he goes back to his own family. The dead man's fiancée brings a new beau to the mother.
Cast & crew
More about The Fugitive
D. W. Griffith directed it for Biograph. John MacDonagh wrote the script. Billy Bitzer photographed it. Wikidata gives 17 minutes. Edwin August plays the Union corporal. Edward Dillon plays the Confederate John. Kate Bruce plays the mother. Dorothy West and Lucy Cotton play the fiancées. Clara T. Bracy, Dorothy Davenport, Frank Evans, and Dell Henderson are billed. Prints are at the Library of Congress, the George Eastman Museum, and Film Preservation Associates.
Themes
Background
A 1910 Biograph Civil War short, written by John MacDonagh before he fought in the Easter Rising.
Making
Griffith stages the war as two households and one hiding place, with Bitzer on the camera.
Look
Billy Bitzer photographed the skirmish and the search of the house.
Preservation
Prints survive at the Library of Congress, the George Eastman Museum, and Film Preservation Associates.
Notes
- MacDonagh later fought in the Easter Rising under his brother Thomas, a signatory of the Proclamation.
- Both soldiers are named John.
- The mother hides the killer of her son twice.
- A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- The two Johns fire on each other in the woods.
- The mother hides the Union soldier while her son's body is in the house.
