The Life of Buffalo Bill
About The Life of Buffalo Bill
William F. Cody, as himself, stops on a ride, lies down, and dreams his younger life: scouting for the cavalry, fights with Indian nations, and the capture of outlaws. He wakes. A younger actor plays Cody inside the dream. Paul Panzer directed.
Cast & crew
More about The Life of Buffalo Bill
Paul Panzer is credited as director. Cody appears in the frame. Irving Cummings, William V. Ranous, and William James Craft are also on cast lists. A Pearl White credit is doubted by viewers of the print, because she was at Kalem. Silent Era separates this dream picture from another 1912 title, The Life of Buffalo Bill, made by the Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill Film Company for state-rights release. A viewer of the Panzer film describes a running time of 40 minutes.
Themes
Making
Panzer framed the fights as a dream so the elderly Cody could open and close a picture about a younger scout.
Preservation
A print of a 1912 Buffalo Bill life story survives. Public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Cody is on screen only in the waking scenes. The dream uses a younger man with the long hair and beard.
- One viewer counts four episodes inside the dream and says they resemble turns from Cody's Wild West show.
- The state-rights advertisement for the other 1912 Cody film promised Indian wars and the building of the Canadian Pacific, enacted by Cody himself.
- That second film is not this dream picture.
- A print of a 1912 Life of Buffalo Bill survives. Public domain in the United States.
Scenes
- The older Cody lies down beside his horse and the dream starts.
- He wakes after the outlaw capture.
