The Poet and the Soldier (1913)

Wounded in a spectacular battle of the Boer War, the soldier tells the poet the thrilling story of his life.

Director:

George Melford

Writers:

Hettie Grey Baker (scenario), Herbert Trench (poem)

Stars:

William H. West, Carlyle Blackwell, Lucille Young

Cast

Cast overview:
William H. West	...	The Poet
Carlyle Blackwell	...	The Soldier
Lucille Young	...	The Soldier's Wife
Marin Sais
Paul Hurst
James W. Horne

Storyline

Adapted from Trench's "Apollo and the Seaman," by permission of Henry Holt and Company, Publishers, New York. "I heard a soldier sing some trifle, Out in the sun-dried veldt, alone; He lay and cleaned his grimy rifle, Idly behind a stone. What grief of love had he to stifle, Basking so idly by his 'stone. That grimy soldier with his rifle, Out in the veldt alone?" The poet finds an answer to his question when, later, he meets the soldier, mortally hurt in the army hospital, and hears his story. He learns of the soldier's courtship and happy married life in an English village: his transfer to a hill garrison in India, where tribesmen have been making trouble; the attempt made by a native rebel to assassinate him as he and his wife sit together in the moonlight; the sacrifice of her own life to save his. Happy in knowing that the period of waiting for his loved one is almost over, the soldier takes the hand of the poet. "If after death, love, comes a waking, And in their camp so dark ...

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1913 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Glendale, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kalem Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

The battle scenes are fair; we have had better

A picture suggested by a lyric poem of Trench's, which was used by permission. Hattie Gray Baker is the authoress and had pictured the soldier as wounded and dying. He tells his story to a poet, v/ho comforts his last moments. This story is disconnected and not dramatic in any real sense of the term and does not deeply interest, although one or two incidents did "capture" two foreigners behind us. The producer has shown a common soldier as living with his wife in a way that only one with the income of an officer could afford. Carlyle Blackwell plays the soldier; Lucile Young, the wife; and William H. West, the poet. The battle scenes are fair; we have had better. The photography is clear. - The Moving Picture World, May 31, 1913