"On the Firing Line with the Germans" Film Annotations (2017)

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Durborough’s film first opened in Milwaukee on 28 November 1915 for an eight-day run before moving to Chicago’s Fine Arts Theater on Monday, 6 December 1915, starting its longest run anywhere. Factors contributing to this record were the Daily News’ substantial ad campaign, Chicago’s large German- American population and the film’s reputation being quickly established as the best war film to date with Kitty Kelly’s early enthusiastic review, even though Ms. Kelly worked for the Chicago Tribune, a competitor of the Chicago Daily News. Durborough lectured at every performance during the Daily News’ sponsorship which concluded on Christmas Day as did its sponsored French war film. His lectures continued during the film showings now managed by the War Film Syndicate in the LaSalle Theater from 27 December 1915 until 10 January 1916, when the LaSalle continued showing the film with ads using the generic title “Wilbur H. Durborough’s German War Pictures.” Figure 31. Advertisement, Chicago Tribune, 7 December 1915 60
Durborough’s film played in local movie theaters around the US beginning in 1916. One film showing of special interest to Durborough was sponsored by the North American in Philadelphia, the city where his parents and brother still lived, in February 1916. He traveled east by train to visit with his family and arranged for the Stutz roadster to arrive later on another. With his typical promotional flair, Durborough drove it up and down Chestnut Street firing a big gun before parking it in front of the movie house when he lectured at each show. While he was no doubt warmly received by his family, his film was not so well received by the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors. It had a legal mandate to review and prohibit the showing of “[films, reels or views] as are sacrilegious, obscene, indecent or such as tend, in the judgment of the board, to corrupt morals. This section does not apply to announcement or advertising slides.” After reviewing the submitted film, the Board of Censors delivered its verdict requiring 75 feet of film removed just days before the scheduled opening on 7 February 1916. They censored the portraits of von Hindenburg and the kaiser that appeared near the very end of the film fearing the large portrait views might incite demonstrations resulting in a riot in a mixed audience of German and English sympathizers. They also forbade using 2’x3’ posters of these individuals’ portraits for promoting the film by claiming they were false advertising since von Hindenburg and the kaiser wouldn’t actually be appearing in person. The immediate verbal protest to the Board was ignored. Although a few weeks later it was determined the Board acted wrongly, there was insufficient time to appeal the ruling at the time; the posters were confiscated and the 75 feet of film were removed before the initial Philadelphia showing. 60 The film bookings slowed through the second half of 1916 into 1917 until public interest in German war films quickly evaporated after diplomatic Figure 32. The controversial kaiser poster, banned in Philadelphia, but welcomed in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Courtesy Hershenson-Allen Archive (eMoviePoster.com) relations were severed with Germany and the country headed toward declared war on 6 April. The local newspapers that wrote articles about the film and Durborough’s frequent appearances generally merely 61
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"ON THE FIRING LINE WITH THE GERMAN
Page 3 and 4:
How It Happened On 25 March 1915, t
Page 5 and 6:
Tribune, who also appears in the fi
Page 7 and 8:
The Chicago Daily News and its Berl
Page 9 and 10: various warring countries to make p
Page 11 and 12: 12 Bellevue Strasse, was mentioned
Page 13 and 14: While the cities had come through r
Page 15 and 16: Dutch reporter Annie Lehr de Waal n
Page 17 and 18: In the scene, Durborough appears on
Page 19 and 20: Figure 10. Professor Hoeftmann’s
Page 21 and 22: Durborough took this film footage,
Page 23 and 24: people who lived in German’s most
Page 25 and 26: made out of wood over here, and all
Page 27 and 28: Annie Lehr de Waal described the sa
Page 29 and 30: In Johannisburg they took down the
Page 31 and 32: furthermore hold me personally resp
Page 33 and 34: Figure 16. Shots of Russian prisone
Page 35 and 36: Figure 18. A copy of the same photo
Page 37 and 38: ourselves in front of a house that
Page 39 and 40: Figure 20 Figure 21 The above frame
Page 41 and 42: Figure 22. Frame enlargement of the
Page 43 and 44: Warsaw and Novo Georgievsk Durborou
Page 45 and 46: Some of the flavor of the war in th
Page 47 and 48: Figure 27. Warsaw as seen from Prag
Page 49 and 50: On returning to Warsaw, Bennett and
Page 51 and 52: Now came the high point of Durborou
Page 53 and 54: Oswald Schuette was also on the sce
Page 55 and 56: Back in Berlin there was little tim
Page 57 and 58: Weigle’s film, contacted him to p
Page 59: The announcement of the Durborough
Page 63 and 64: of states judged by Woolley to be c
Page 65 and 66: Subsequent History of Durborough an
Page 67 and 68: historical events described and mos
Page 69 and 70: 20 Lehr de Waal, "A Trip through Ea
Page 71: 57 Reinhard R. Doerries, Imperial C
Page 79 and 80: Senzburg, Nicolaiken, Johannisburg,
Page 81 and 82: We are leaving this sad war memoria
Page 83 and 84: word that he knew: “Ein Moment!
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"On the Firing Line with the Germans" Film Annotations (2017)

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