Lest We Forget

original title:
Lest We Forget
country / year of production:
USA / 1918
original length:
black/white
premiere:
USA: 27 January 1918
genre:
Propaganda film
based on:
director:
Léonce Perret
film script:
Léonce Perret
producer:
Giuseppe de Cippico , J.L. Kempner
cinematographer:
editor:
Charles A. Taylor
composer:
cast (role):
Rita Jolivet (Rita Heriot) , Hamilton Revelle (Harry Winslow) , L. Rogers Lytton (Baron von Bergen) , Kate Blancke (Madame Heriot) , Cliff Saum (Fritz Muller) , Rita Jolivet , Hamilton Revelle , L. Rogers Lytton , Kate Blancke , Cliff Saum
more:
plot synopsis:
The film describes the the sinking of the Lusitania and its aftermath. At the center of attention is the American actress Rita Herolt who is captured by the Germans and sentenced to the firing squad. At the last moment she escapes this fate then starts searching for her estranged fiance Harry Winslow, who has been led to believe that Rita is a German sympathizer. In the final scene she proves her anti-German attitude, strangling the nominal villain, a Prussian baron, with his own bedsheet.
keywords:
submarine
war:
First World War (1914-1918)
literature:
remarks:
French actress Rita Jolivet is a survivor of the real-life sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. The film was shot over a six-month period, with the all-important "sinking" scene lensed in the dead of winter, which was hardly conducive to the health of the actors. Not content with merely rebuilding and submerging the Lusitania.
The film`s propaganda was so convincing that Jolivet managed to raise more than $250.000 in sales of Liberty Bond during her appearances in Connecticut.
When after the armistice the film was presented in Switzerland the German consul in Geneva protest against its presentation which was then only allowed after several scenes were cut out.
availability: