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{{short description|1914 film by Christy Cabanne}}
{{short description|1914 film by Christy Cabanne}}
{{unreferenced|date=September 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = The Life of General Villa
| name = The Life of General Villa
Line 6: Line 6:
| caption =
| caption =
| director = [[Christy Cabanne]]
| director = [[Christy Cabanne]]
| producer = [[H. E. Aitken]]<br>[[Frank N. Thayer]]<br>[[D. W. Griffith]]
| producer = H.E. Aitken<br>Frank N. Thayer<br>[[D. W. Griffith]]
| writer = [[Frank E. Woods]]
| writer = [[Frank E. Woods]]
| starring = [[Pancho Villa]]<br>[[Raoul Walsh]]
| starring = [[Pancho Villa]]<br>[[Raoul Walsh]]
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}}
}}


'''''The Life of General Villa''''' (1914) is a [[silent film|silent]] [[Biographical film|biographical]] [[Action (genre)|action]]&ndash;[[drama film]] starring [[Pancho Villa]] as himself, shot on location during a civil war. The film incorporated both staged scenes and authentic live footage from real battles during the [[Mexican Revolution]], around which the plot of the film revolves. The film was produced by [[D. W. Griffith]] and featured future director [[Raoul Walsh]] as the younger version of Villa.
'''''The Life of General Villa''''' (1914) is a [[silent film|silent]] [[Biographical film|biographical]] [[Action (genre)|action]]&ndash;[[drama film]] starring [[Pancho Villa]] as himself, shot on location during a civil war. The film incorporated both staged scenes and authentic live footage from real battles during the [[Mexican Revolution]], around which the plot of the film revolves. The film was produced by [[D. W. Griffith]] and featured future director [[Raoul Walsh]] as the younger version of Villa.<ref name="afi">{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/13638|title=The Life of General Villa|website=afi.com|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref>


Currently the film is presumably [[lost film|lost]], with only unedited fragments and publicity stills known to exist.
Currently the film is presumably [[lost film|lost]],<ref name="nyt" /> with only unedited fragments and publicity stills known to exist.


The making of the film and associated events were dramatized in the film ''[[And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself]]'' (2003) with [[Antonio Banderas]] starring as Villa and [[Kyle Chandler]] playing Walsh.
The making of the film and associated events were dramatized in the film ''[[And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself]]'' (2003) with [[Antonio Banderas]] starring as Villa and [[Kyle Chandler]] playing Walsh.<ref name="afi" /><ref name="nyt">{{Cite news |last=Heffernan |first=Virginia |author-link=Virginia Heffernan |date=6 September 2003 |title=TELEVISION REVIEW; Pancho Villa Fights for Glory And D.W. Griffith for Money |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/06/arts/television-review-pancho-villa-fights-for-glory-and-dw-griffith-for-money.html |access-date=28 February 2024}}</ref>


==Production==
==Plot==
{{no plot|date=December 2023}}
[[File:Pancho Villa bandolier crop.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Pancho Villa]]]]
Pancho Villa's reason for starring in the movie was financial as he needed funds to fight the [[Mexican Revolution]]. He eventually signed a contract with the [[Mutual Film Corporation]] where he received a $25,000 advance and was promised 50% of the profits from the film for agreeing to let the company shoot his battles in daylight, and for re-enacting them if more footage was needed. (The contract resides in a museum in [[Mexico City]] at the Archivo Federico Gonzalez Garza, folio 3057.)

Raoul Walsh wrote extensively about the experience in his autobiography ''Each Man in His Time'', describing Villa's charisma as well as noting that peasants would knock the teeth out of corpses with rocks in the wake of firing squads in order to harvest the gold fillings, which was captured on film and had the projectionists vomiting in the screening room back in Los Angeles.

The following year, Walsh played [[John Wilkes Booth]] in Griffith's epic ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' and directed the first gangster movie, ''[[Regeneration (1915 film)|Regeneration]]'', on location in the [[Bowery]] on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]].


==Cast==
==Cast==
* [[Pancho Villa]] as himself
* [[Pancho Villa]] as Himself
* [[Raoul Walsh]] as Villa as a young man
* [[Raoul Walsh]] as Young Pancho Villa
* [[Teddy Sampson (actress)|Teddy Sampson]] as Villa's Sister
* [[Teddy Sampson]] as Villa's Sister
* [[Irene Hunt (actress)|Irene Hunt]] as Villa's Sister
* [[Irene Hunt (actress)|Irene Hunt]] as Villa's Sister
* [[Walter Long (actor)|Walter Long]] as Federal Officer
* [[Walter Long (actor)|Walter Long]] as Federal Officer
* [[W. E. Lawrence]] as Federal Officer
* [[W. E. Lawrence]] as Federal Officer
* [[Juano Hernández]] as Revolutionary Soldier
* [[Juano Hernández]] as Revolutionary Soldier

==Production==
[[File:Pancho Villa bandolier crop.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Pancho Villa]]]]
Pancho Villa's reason for starring in the movie was financial as he needed funds to help the [[Mexican Revolution]]. He eventually signed a contract with the [[Mutual Film Corporation]] where he received a $25,000 advance and was promised 50% of the profits from the film for agreeing to let the company shoot his battles in daylight, and for re-enacting them if more footage was needed. (The contract resides in a museum in [[Mexico City]] at the Archivo Federico Gonzalez Garza, folio 3057.)

Raoul Walsh wrote extensively about the experience in his autobiography ''Each Man in His Time'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Walsh |first=Raoul |author-link=Raoul Walsh |year=1974 |title=Each Man in His Time: The Life Story of a Director |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/eachmaninhistime00raou |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus and Giroux]] |pages=85–102 |isbn=0374145539}}</ref> describing Villa's charisma as well as noting that peasants would knock the teeth out of corpses with rocks in the wake of firing squads in order to harvest the gold fillings, which was captured on film and had the projectionists vomiting in the screening room back in Los Angeles.

The following year, Walsh played [[John Wilkes Booth]] in Griffith's epic ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/1826|title=The Birth of a Nation|website=afi.com|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref> and directed the early gangster movie, ''[[Regeneration (1915 film)|Regeneration]]'', on location in the [[Bowery]] on the [[Lower East Side]] of [[Manhattan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/18189|title=Regeneration|website=afi.com|access-date=2024-03-02}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[List of lost films]]
* [[List of lost films]]

==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Of General Villa}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Of General Villa}}
[[Category:1914 films]]
[[Category:1914 films]]
[[Category:1914 drama films]]
[[Category:1914 lost films]]
[[Category:1910s action drama films]]
[[Category:1910s American films]]
[[Category:1910s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:1910s English-language films]]
[[Category:1910s war drama films]]
[[Category:1910s war drama films]]
[[Category:American action drama films]]
[[Category:American war drama films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:American war drama films]]
[[Category:Films about Pancho Villa]]
[[Category:Films about Pancho Villa]]
[[Category:Films shot in Mexico]]
[[Category:Films shot in Mexico]]
[[Category:Lost action drama films]]
[[Category:Lost American action adventure films]]
[[Category:Lost American adventure drama films]]
[[Category:Lost war drama films]]
[[Category:Mexican Revolution films]]
[[Category:Mexican Revolution films]]
[[Category:Lost American films]]
[[Category:Mutual Film films]]
[[Category:Mutual Film films]]
[[Category:1914 lost films]]
[[Category:Silent adventure films]]
[[Category:1910s action drama films]]
[[Category:1910s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:Lost action drama films]]
[[Category:1914 drama films]]
[[Category:1910s American films]]
[[Category:Silent American drama films]]
[[Category:Silent American drama films]]
[[Category:Silent adventure films]]
[[Category:Silent war drama films]]
[[Category:English-language biographical drama films]]
[[Category:English-language action adventure films]]
[[Category:English-language action drama films]]
[[Category:English-language war drama films]]





Latest revision as of 01:08, 8 November 2024

The Life of General Villa
Directed byChristy Cabanne
Written byFrank E. Woods
Produced byH.E. Aitken
Frank N. Thayer
D. W. Griffith
StarringPancho Villa
Raoul Walsh
CinematographyRaoul Walsh
Distributed byMutual Film Corporation
Mexican War Film Corp.
Release date
  • May 9, 1914 (1914-05-09)
Running time
105 min
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles

The Life of General Villa (1914) is a silent biographical actiondrama film starring Pancho Villa as himself, shot on location during a civil war. The film incorporated both staged scenes and authentic live footage from real battles during the Mexican Revolution, around which the plot of the film revolves. The film was produced by D. W. Griffith and featured future director Raoul Walsh as the younger version of Villa.[1]

Currently the film is presumably lost,[2] with only unedited fragments and publicity stills known to exist.

The making of the film and associated events were dramatized in the film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) with Antonio Banderas starring as Villa and Kyle Chandler playing Walsh.[1][2]

Plot

[edit]

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]
Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa's reason for starring in the movie was financial as he needed funds to help the Mexican Revolution. He eventually signed a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation where he received a $25,000 advance and was promised 50% of the profits from the film for agreeing to let the company shoot his battles in daylight, and for re-enacting them if more footage was needed. (The contract resides in a museum in Mexico City at the Archivo Federico Gonzalez Garza, folio 3057.)

Raoul Walsh wrote extensively about the experience in his autobiography Each Man in His Time,[3] describing Villa's charisma as well as noting that peasants would knock the teeth out of corpses with rocks in the wake of firing squads in order to harvest the gold fillings, which was captured on film and had the projectionists vomiting in the screening room back in Los Angeles.

The following year, Walsh played John Wilkes Booth in Griffith's epic The Birth of a Nation[4] and directed the early gangster movie, Regeneration, on location in the Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.[5]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "The Life of General Villa". afi.com. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  2. ^ a b Heffernan, Virginia (6 September 2003). "TELEVISION REVIEW; Pancho Villa Fights for Glory And D.W. Griffith for Money". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  3. ^ Walsh, Raoul (1974). Each Man in His Time: The Life Story of a Director. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 85–102. ISBN 0374145539.
  4. ^ "The Birth of a Nation". afi.com. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  5. ^ "Regeneration". afi.com. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
[edit]