Patria -- The Serial Supreme -- January 23, 2017

Moving Picture World, 06-January-1917

The Wharton Brothers produced Patria, a fifteen-chapter serial starring Irene Castle, for William Randolph Hearst.  Warner Oland, who made a career out of playing Asian parts, was a Japanese spy.  Baron Huroki and his spy ring want to destroy American munitions plants, many of which are owned by Patria Channing, who was played by Irene Castle.  .  Milton Sills is a Secret Service agent who is after the spy ring.  At one point in the serial, the Japanese ally with Mexico to attack the United States.  While the film was being release, President Woodrow Wilson learned about the themes of the film and asked the producers to change the nationalities of many of the characters.

Irene Castle had become famous, with her husband Vernon, as a ballroom dancer.  He left the act in early 1916 to return to his native Britain, where he joined the Royal Flying Corps.  He was a successful pilot, earning the Croix de Guerre.  He was sent to Canada and then the United States to train new pilots.  He died in a flying accident in 1918.

Moving Picture World, 20-January-1917

The Clutching Hand -- December 17, 2014

Motography, 26-December-1914

The Perils of Pauline was a big hit in 1914. The 20 chapter serial was not the first movie serial, but it was one of the big ones. It starred Pearl White, the first serial queen. The Eclectic Film Company distributed Pathé movies in the United States. The film exists only in a mutilated form, based on a copy exported to France. The subtitles had been translated into French, then translated back into English. Be sure to click on this image from the last episode to see a larger version.  Note the dog. 

Motography, 05-December-1914

Pathé announced that they would "release another serial with substantially the same cast, but showing adventures of a different sort."

Moving Picture World, 19-December-1914

"The biggest and best serial yet" starred Pearl White as the alliterative heroine Elaine and Arnold Daly as the scientific detective Craig Kennedy.  Arthur B Reeve wrote 26 novels and many short stories about Kennedy.  Elaine and Kennedy were looking for the man who killed her father, a disguised villain known as The Clutching Hand. 



Moving Picture World, 26-December-1914

The villain's name often appeared as large or larger than the name of the movie.  I like the image. 



Moving Picture World, 26-December-1914

The all star cast appears on the left-hand page.  Author Reeve and director Leopold Wharton appear on the right.