Lillian Gish finds love while Zeppelins bomb London—Griffith's most chaotic war romance.
Jim Young of Youngstown, Pennsylvania, reads of the German war atrocities and decides to enlist in the British army, thus becoming a forerunner of the American forces that are subsequently to leave for the battlefields of Europe. He begins active training at a camp outside London. While enjoying a few hours of leave, he meets Susie Broadplains , a young woman from Australia. She is flattered by his attentions and their friendship soon blossoms into love. However German plotters plan to destroy an arsenal at night and Sir Roger is inveigled into driving an automobile along a London road with its lights turned skyward to guide the Zeppelins. Jim, wounded and home on furlough, detects Sir Roger on the lonely road, follows and traps him in his cottage. Sir Roger turns his pistol on himself rather than be taken alive. Susie finds the "great love" in service for the cause of democracy and her country, with a greater love in sight.
Direction
Griffith's intimate close-ups amid epic wartime staging.
Cinematography
Zeppelin searchlight sequences—early spectacle cinema.
Acting
Gish's luminous restraint anchors the melodrama.
Director
D.W. Griffith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during WWI as deliberate propaganda to push American involvement—Griffith essentially made a recruitment film for Britain.
Robert Harron died tragically two years later at 27, making this one of his final collaborations with Gish and Griffith.
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