The Victoria Cross (1914)

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Ben Webster | Edna Flugrath | Harold M. Shaw (Director)

Rest of cast:

Charles Rock | Douglas Munro | Gwynne Herbert | Anne Merwin (Story) | Bannister Merwin (Story)

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“The Victoria Cross”

Cosmofotofilm releasing a three-part London Film war drama containing splendid appeal.

Reviewed by George Blaisdell.

It is a splendid war drama Harold Shaw gives us in The Victoria Cross, which he has produced for the London Film Company. The subject, in three parts, is being released in the United States through the Cosmofotofilm Company. The script is written by Anne [Anne Merwin] and Bannister Merwin, which in itself counts for much. In the telling of the story there is no evidence of haste; there is every indication of care — in the attention to the treatment of what by some might be construed as minor situations, but which in their delicate handling move us and stir us.

There is a cast of strength. Edna Flugrath, who will be remembered as a one time Edison player, has the part of Alice, the daughter of Bilson, architect and money lender. Miss Flugrath as the young girl charms, as the young woman appeals to our sympathies. All of her associates do, too, for that matter, even to Bilson the hard-hearted, who when he learns that Alice is in love with the younger Oldwood changes his mind about taking full advantage of a note given him by the now dead senior Oldwood. Douglas Munro, who portrays Bilson, is entitled to credit for a fine performance.

Charles Rock is Colonel Oldwood, the man who in other days has accepted a Victoria Cross for valor when he knew that on the great occasion he had flunked, that the bravery had been displayed by a comrade who met his death. He lacked the courage openly to confess the fault, but he did leave for his son an explanatory note setting forth the truth. It is the discovery of this note which impels the son to enlist at the breaking out of the war in the face of abundant domestic reasons for remaining at home. Ben Webster is the younger Oldwood. Gwynne Herbert is Mrs. Oldwood.

The story may be of England today, but nevertheless it will touch the hearts of men and women everywhere — its theme is of universal interest. Some of the minor incidents referred to are, for instance, where the young girl, with the artlessness of childhood, asks the young man if he will marry her when she grows up and then proceeds to knight him in orthodox fashion, with the mother looking on; the pride displayed by the mother as she kisses the symbol which to her makes of her husband a hero; the tenderness of the parting as the young man, with the full approval of the mother, in ignorance of the debt hanging over the family, leaves for the front; the struggle of Bilson between natural tightfistedness and disinclination to take anv step that will give pain to his daughter; the pathos in the entrance of the old gardener as he tells the mother and the sweetheart of her son that there is no word for them from the front.

There are bigger scenes, such as the night attack on the trenches. It is just a bit of the battlefield we see, but it is effective. The wire to headquarters has been smashed by a shell. The young man realizes that his chance has come to redeem the family honor. He climbs out of the trench, joins together the severed strands, and meets his death. When the mother receives from the hand of the young man’s pal the personal effects of her son she finds a note in the handwriting of her husband. The vital parts of the contents are blotted out by blood as there has also been obliterated the stain on the writer, of which she knew nothing. And there is a second Victoria Cross in the package — an untarnished one.

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Scene from The Victoria Cross (Cosmofotofilm)

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915