A Temporary Truce

1912 film

June 10, 1912 (1912-06-10)

Running time

17 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguagesSilent
English intertitles

A Temporary Truce is a 1912 American short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Library of Congress.^[1]

Plot

Mexican Jim, the villain, kidnaps Alice, wife of Jack the prospector. Jack declares a temporary truce with Jim so they can both battle the Indians as a common enemy.^[2]

Cast

Charles Hill Mailes as Mexican Jim
Claire McDowell as Mexican Jim's Wife
Charles Gorman as Jack, the Prospector
Blanche Sweet as Alice, the Prospector's Wife
W. Chrystie Miller as The Murdered Indian / Indian on Street
Christy Cabanne as An Indian
William A. Carroll as In Bar / Among Rescuers
Frank Evans as In Bar / Among Rescuers
Robert Harron as The Murdered Indian's Son
Bert Hendler as In Bar
Harry Hyde as Among Rescuers / Outside Pony Express Office
J. Jiquel Lanoe as An Indian / Among Rescuers
Wilfred Lucas as An Indian
Mae Marsh as A Murdered Settler
Frank Opperman as A Drunken Cutthroat / The Indian Chief / The Bartender
Alfred Paget as A Drunken Cutthroat / An Indian / Among Rescuers
Jack Pickford as An Indian
W. C. Robinson as An Indian / In Bar / Among Rescuers
Charles West

Themes

D. W. Griffith did not always portray Mexican characters in a negative light; however, in this film they are portrayed as a threat to white families and women.^[3] The film is more complex in this regard that previous Griffith work.^[4]

Production

The cast was considered to be quite large for a short film under two reels.^[5] This is one of three D. W. Griffith films that Bert Hendler appeared in.^[6] The cast also included Mae Marsh, who worked with Griffith on many films, including The Birth of a Nation. She was one of his favorites and in a 1923 interview, Griffith noted that "Mae Marsh was born a film star."^[7]

References

^ "Silent Era: A Temporary Truce". silentera. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
^ Division, Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound; Niver, Kemp R. (1985). Early Motion Pictures: The Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress. Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-8444-0463-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Bernardi, Daniel; Green, Michael (July 7, 2017). Race in American Film: Voices and Visions that Shaped a Nation [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-313-39840-7.
^ Usai, Paolo Cherchi (July 25, 2019). The Griffith Project, Volume 5: Films Produced in 1911. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-83902-011-7.
^ Film & Video Finder: Title section (A-K). National Information Center for Educational Media, a Division of Access Innovations, Incorporated. 1997. p. 3110. ISBN 978-0-937548-29-5.
^ Slide, Anthony (March 12, 2012). The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-61703-250-9.
^ Lowe, Denise (January 27, 2014). An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films: 1895-1930. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-71896-3.