Volume II: Filmography

THE REUNION

From THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD, February 26, 1916 (F-1000)

February 23, 1916 (Wednesday)

Length: 3 reels

Character: Drama; Than-O-Play

Director: William Parke

Assistant director: Gordon Hollingshead

Scenario: Virginia T. Hudson and Clinton H. Stagg

Cameraman: Walter Scott

Cast: J.D. Gilmour (John Bowden, the Civil War veteran), George Marlo (young soldier), Isolde Illian (Martha Winthrop, as a young nurse), Inda Palmer (Martha Winthrop, as an older woman), Ethel Jewett (Relée, the dancer)

Location: Washington, D.C.; some scenes of a Grand Army of the Republic encampment parade are shown.

Note: J.D. Gilmour's surname appeared as "Gilmore" in some notices.

SYNOPSIS, Reel Life, February 19, 1916:

"No phase of American history is so full of romance as the Civil War period. The fast thinning ranks of the veterans who fought to preserve the Union touch a tender spot within us, and serves to increase our patriotic pride in recalling the brave deeds they performed in the sixties. Many romantic dramas have been founded upon some episode of the Civil War, but none has the heart, interest or originality in plot of the Thanhouser-Mutual three act war drama, The Reunion.

"This is no story of a Southern girl, who falls in love with a Northern soldier, but is the delightful love story of a veteran of the war and his sweetheart, who waited fifty years for him to claim her. Martha Winthrop, the story reveals, had served during the war as a trained nurse. During a bitter struggle with the enemy, she rescues John Bowden from death and then nurses him back to life. He promises to claim her for his bride after the war. Martha lives in a small village near Washington, where she is loved by everybody for her kindness and charity. In this village are three old soldiers, the remaining members of a famous regiment. The time comes for the annual reunion of the G.A.R. and the three old men send Martha to the reunion to represent their regiment. While watching the parade she sees the man she has dreamed about for half a century. She is overcome and is assisted to a hotel by a young man, who awakens memories of long ago in Martha's mind. She learns that he is the son of her old sweetheart and through him meets the man of her dreams. He learns that she has never received a letter written to her at the close of the war, but her long wait is rewarded by having her hero claim her.

"The Reunion is an unusual photoplay replete with pathos and humor and one that leaves a pleasant taste in your mouth. There are no problems to be solved. It is but a simple, delightful story. Isolde Illian as Martha, is charming and sweet, making the role stand out as one of the few great film characterizations. J.H. Gilmour makes a splendid Civil War veteran, who lost his early love through a mistake. He is excellent in the scene where the reconciliation is effected. Ethel Jewett, popular favorite of Thanhouser-Mutual releases, as Relée, the dance girl, scores one of her most delightful screen characterizations. The settings of The Reunion, are typical of Thanhouser productions. The scene in particular, that depicting the battlefield after a bloody engagement between the Blue and the Gray, is one of the most thrilling witnessed on a motion picture screen in many a day."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, February 26, 1916:

"A three-reel story of delicate sentiment and true pathos by Virginia T. Hudson and Clinton H. Stagg. J.H. Gilmour appears as a soldier boy of '61 and later as a veteran attending the Grand Army reunion in Washington, D.C. Actual scenes from the parade are deftly woven into the story. The former nurse attends the reunion and sees her lover of war days in the parade. This plot has been used before, but is handled very effectively here. The letter incident is well pictured. This is full of genuine feeling and has good humorous touches running through it."

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