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The Lost Dispatch
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Charles Giblyn
Cast: Joe King [Major Frank Payton], Hazel Buckham [Nell Hartman, Jack’s sweetheart], Charles Ray [Bill Hartman, Nell’s brother], [?] Francis Ford?
New York Motion Picture Company production; distributed by Mutual Film Corporation [Kay-Bee]. / Produced by Thomas H. Ince. / Released 7 March 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Civil War.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? The introductory scenes show Frank Payton and his fiancée, Nell Hartman, in a southern town in the spring of 1861. The war breaks out and Frank becomes an officer in the southern army, while Nell’s little brother, Bill, enlists as a bugler. Stupendous and awe-inspiring scenes are shown as the war progresses. Frank is made a major, and one day is confronted by a large force of Union soldiers, and holds them at bay at a bridge. From the top of a high hill the general sees Frank’s desperate predicament and realizes that if Frank’s command is driven back the Union soldiers will cut his army in two. He therefore rushes an orderly to Frank with a hasty message to hold the bridge at all hazards, as reinforcements are coming. The orderly is shot from his saddle by Union soldiers and the message discovered. The Union general dresses one of his men in the uniform of the dead orderly and sends him to Frank with a message to which the signature of the Confederate general is forged, telling him to retreat at once. Frank gives the order, and as the men retire before the advancing Union soldiers, he is struck by a bullet and falls, and at the same time Bill is fatally wounded. The message has fallen from Frank’s hands, and Bill picks it up and sticks it in his blouse. When Frank recovers consciousness he is in the hospital, and Bill is dead. He sends the little bundle of Bill’s clothes to Nell with a pathetic little note. The retreat has cost the Confederates dearly, and Frank is court-martialed for disobeying instructions. He is found guilty and dishonorably discharged, being read out of the service and his uniform stripped of its trappings in a most impressive scene. He goes home to Nell, but she, broken-hearted, turns from him, saying she could never marry a coward. Many years pass, and Frank is a white-haired, sad old man, and Nell has never married. The grizzled veterans of the war are holding a reunion, and are marching down the street, cheered by the throngs which line the sidewalks, and led by a fife and drum corps. As the martial strains of the music reach Frank’s ears he goes to the window, and the sight cuts him to the heart, for he is denied his rightful place in their ranks. The day also brings back memories of the past to Nell, and she goes up into the attic and brings out her old clothes from a trunk. Among her treasures is the tattered uniform of her dead brother, and she brings this out. She feels a piece of paper in the lining, and tearing the lining apart she discovers the lost dispatch upon which Frank retreated. As the full consciousness of what it means flashes over her she rushes out and intercepts the parade. Excitedly she tells the old general the startling news, and it is decided to march to Frank's house. The parade halts before his door, and the old officers and Nell enter. Frank is sitting in a big armchair with his head fallen over upon his chest. They gently shake him, but he does not awaken, and then they discover that he has passed into the great beyond.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 30 March 2020.
References: ClasIm-224 p. 42 : Website-IMDb.
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