Jim Bludso
Encyclopedia
Jim Bludso is a 1917
drama film
directed by Tod Browning
. It was Browning's first feature film as a director. Contemporary sources are variable on the matter of whether the direction was a joint effort between Browning and the film's star, Wilfred Lucas
. In their book Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre, David J. Skal
and Elias Savada
suggest that Lucas' name was added to the credit for contractual reasons, and that Browning directed Jim Bludso alone. As Jim Bludso is presumed lost, it is uncertain what the original title card might have read in terms of directorial credit. The film was produced by the Fine Arts unit within the Triangle Film Corporation
, the same studio that made the popular Douglas Fairbanks
comedies for Triangle, for whom Browning had previously worked as a scenarist.
, a familiar set piece in the repertoire of elocutionists, actors and other public speakers; the Kalem Company
had already made a one-reeler out of the same property in 1912. For the film, Browning fashioned his script from both Jim Bludso and another poem, Little Breeches. Much of the film's dramatic arc also came from a 1903 stage play adaptation by I.N. Morris. Hay's original poem memorialized Jim Bludso's courage and selflessness in sacrificing his own life so that the passengers on his burning boat might survive. For the film, a happy ending was devised and an entirely different set of circumstances led to the demise of Prairie Bell, which Bludso is piloting in Hay's poem.
1917 in film
The year 1917 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Foundation of Universum Film AG , as a propaganda film company, in Berlin.*Technicolor System 1, a two-color process, is introduced...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning
Tod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
. It was Browning's first feature film as a director. Contemporary sources are variable on the matter of whether the direction was a joint effort between Browning and the film's star, Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas was a Canadian stage and film actor, film director, and screenwriter.-Career:A native of Ontario, Canada, Lucas headed to New York City to work in the theater, making his Broadway acting debut in 1904 at the Savoy Theater in the production of The Superstition of Sue...
. In their book Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre, David J. Skal
David J. Skal
David J. Skal is an American cultural historian known for his writings on horror films and horror literature.-Early life:...
and Elias Savada
Elias Savada
Elias Savada is an American film historian and critic.The son of New York record store owner Morton Savada, Savada is the founder of the Motion Picture Information Service, which provides copyright research for film and television show producers...
suggest that Lucas' name was added to the credit for contractual reasons, and that Browning directed Jim Bludso alone. As Jim Bludso is presumed lost, it is uncertain what the original title card might have read in terms of directorial credit. The film was produced by the Fine Arts unit within the Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation
Triangle Film Corporation was a major American motion-picture studio, founded in the summer of 1915 in Culver City, California, and envisioned as a prestige studio based on the producing abilities of filmmakers D. W. Griffith, Thomas Ince and Mack Sennett...
, the same studio that made the popular Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
comedies for Triangle, for whom Browning had previously worked as a scenarist.
Cast
- Wilfred LucasWilfred LucasWilfred Lucas was a Canadian stage and film actor, film director, and screenwriter.-Career:A native of Ontario, Canada, Lucas headed to New York City to work in the theater, making his Broadway acting debut in 1904 at the Savoy Theater in the production of The Superstition of Sue...
- Jim Bludso - Olga GreyOlga GreyOlga Grey was an American silent film actress.Anna "Anushka" Zacsek, a Budapest native, immigrated to the United States, and by her late teens was pursuing an acting career in Hollywood....
- Gabrielle - Georgie Stone - Little Breeches
- Charles Lee - Tom Taggart
- Winifred Westover - Kate Taggart
- Sam De GrasseSam De GrasseSamuel Alfred De Grasse was a Canadian actor. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he trained to be a dentist....
- Ben Merrill - James O'Shea - Banty Tim
- Monte BlueMonte BlueMonte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles....
- Joe Bower - Al Joy - Gambler
- Lillian LangdonLillian LangdonLillian Langdon was a New Jersey-born American film actress of the silent era. She appeared in 86 films between 1912 and 1928.She died in Santa Monica, California, aged 82.-Selected filmography:...
- Bert WoodruffBert WoodruffBert Woodruff was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 64 films between 1916 and 1931. He was born in Peoria, Illinois and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Jim Bludso...
Synopsis
Engineer Jim Bludso and his sidekick, Banty Tim, return to Gilgal, Illinois after the end of the American Civil War. Upon arrival, they discover that Jim's wife, Gabrielle, has left him for another man and abandoned their son. Kate Taggart, the daughter of a storekeeper in town, takes pity on Jim and they develop a fondness for one another. Gabrielle, now dumped, returns and Jim forgives her and resumes their married life. Meanwhile, a flood is coming, and Ben Merrill—constructor of Gilgal's levee—knows the structure won't hold against the tide, so he willfully causes it to fail and plans to blame the resulting catastrophe on Jim and Banty Tim. Gabrielle is mortally wounded in the flood, and her dying words implicate Merrill and identify him as the man who wooed her away from her family. Jim is on board the boat Prairie Bell when this news reaches him, as is Merrill; they get into a fight, and Prairie Bell bursts into flames and explodes. Jim is rescued and returns to Gilgal to marry Kate.Adaptation
Jim Bludso was a poem from the Pike County Ballads of John HayJohn Hay
John Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:...
, a familiar set piece in the repertoire of elocutionists, actors and other public speakers; the Kalem Company
Kalem Company
The Kalem Company was an American film studio founded in New York City in 1907 by George Kleine, Samuel Long , and Frank J. Marion.The company immediately joined other studios in the Motion Picture Patents Company that held a monopoly on production and distribution...
had already made a one-reeler out of the same property in 1912. For the film, Browning fashioned his script from both Jim Bludso and another poem, Little Breeches. Much of the film's dramatic arc also came from a 1903 stage play adaptation by I.N. Morris. Hay's original poem memorialized Jim Bludso's courage and selflessness in sacrificing his own life so that the passengers on his burning boat might survive. For the film, a happy ending was devised and an entirely different set of circumstances led to the demise of Prairie Bell, which Bludso is piloting in Hay's poem.