This compilation tape presents three rare silent films about the battle of the Alamo and is introduced by Alamo scholar Frank Thompson. Available from Old Mill Books, 639 North Evergreen Street, Burbank, California, 91505.

1) THE IMMORTAL ALAMO (1911, Directed by William F. Haddock)

This short film exists today only as a series of still photographs of the original film (which has been lost) and title cards to indicate the thrust of the story. While it plays fast and loose with the actual incidents at the Alamo, introducing a silly romantic sub-plot and having Houston and his men arrive moments after the fall of the Alamo to wreak vengeance on Santa Anna, THE IMMORTAL ALAMO is interesting for one reason in that it starred Francis Ford as Davy Crockett. Ford, a big star in silent films, was the older brother of the great director John Ford, perhaps best remembered today for his role as the dying old man Dan Tobin in his brother’s masterpiece THE QUIET MAN. He’s the old geezer who is seen lying on his death bed who then miraculously springs back to life when John Wayne and Victor McLaglen begin their famous brawl.

Apart from this factor, THE IMMORTAL ALAMO is a curio and only of interest to Alamo movie fans as perhaps the earliest attempt to capture at least a portion of this great story on film.

2) MARTYRS OF THE ALAMO (1915, supervised by D.W. Griffith, Directed by William Christy Cabanne)

This film is more ambitious than the other two Alamo stories on this tape. It takes time to build the conflict and resentment between the two cultures using a fictitious encounter between Captain Dickinson and a Mexican officer which results in the officer’s death and Dickinson’s imprisonment. While this is rather dubious as a plot point, the roots of discord are definitely sown. The one difficulty with this prologue is that it paints a very black and white picture of the Mexicans as ignorant buffoons and the Americans as noble, freedom-loving heroes. Given that it was made in 1915 and that the secondary title of the film is THE BIRTH OF TEXAS, one cannot help but compare it to D. W. Griffith’s THE BIRTH OF A NATION, with its sadly racist overtones. It would be interesting to discover what Griffith’s social sentiments really were.

While firmly embedded in silent film histrionics and stilted acting, there is at times an epic feel to this film. The Alamo siege and final battle is prolonged and action-packed, though additions such as a ‘secret passage’ in the fort are blatantly ridiculous and indicative that liberties with the Alamo story have a deep-rooted precedent in dramatic presentation.

The film focuses rather oddly on the historical figure Deaf Smith, here called Silent Smith. He is instrumental after the fall of the Alamo in spying on Santa Anna by posing as a deaf/mute game hunter in the employ of the Mexicans. His intelligence prepares the way for the battle of San Jacinto, which is accordingly represented, simplistically and without the psychological torment that Houston and his army went through in ascertaining the right time to turn and fight.

MARTYRS OF THE ALAMO is not a great film but it is another interesting early film in the Alamo roll call of cinematic representation. The fact that Frank Thompson has prepared these three early Alamo movies is indicative of the continued interest in this fascinating subject.

3) WITH DAVY CROCKETT AT THE FALL OF THE ALAMO (1926, Directed by Robert N. Bradbury starring Cullen Landis and Bob Steele)

By the 1920s silent films were quite sophisticated and some of the epics produced in this period remain impressive today. While WITH DAVY CROCKETT AT THE FALL OF THE ALAMO is not quite in this league, it does have some thrilling moments. A good chunk of this film is missing, but the last third of the film, dealing with the Alamo siege and final battle, is complete. It is here that we see a simplified but reasonably effective display of technical competence as the Alamo defenders (with an emphasis on Crockett, of course) meet their martyrdom.

There is little in the performances, even Cullen Landis as Davy Crockett, that makes much of an impression today. The familiarity of the story is what keeps the viewer interested up until the battle when the on-screen clash holds its own.

A mission façade is the central point of the battle as presented here, which is appropriate as Crockett and his men defended the adjoining rampart, considered to be the weakest part of the fortification. The façade is clearly scaled down from the original, but it serves its purpose well enough. The famous hump on the top of the mission front, which was of course added by the U.S. Army long after the siege, is inaccurately shown in place here, but one can be forgiving towards a film whose sole intent, it seems, is to glorify patriotism.

The film opens and closes with a little boy and his grandfather sitting outside. The boy asks his grandfather to tell him a story and gramps obliges with the life of Davy Crockett, picking up just after his defeat for re-election as congressman for Tennessee. At the end of the film, when the sacrifice of the Alamo defenders has been duly described and witnessed, the grandfather underlines the fact these defenders were AMERICANS, and thus died to protect freedom (though many of them owned slaves). It’s jingoistic and simplistic, but so what? The Alamo story is supposed to inspire.

It is interesting to speculate as to whether John Wayne was influenced by this film, thus sowing the seed for his Alamo obsession. Bob Steele, son of the director Robert N. Bradbury, was a friend of Duke’s and Bradbury directed Wayne in some of his early films.

These three early motion pictures are an excellent starting point for any Alamo film collection

Jon Ted Wynne