SPAN 3302
Monday, March 26, 2007
Pancho Villa asked D W Griffith to make a movie about his Revolution
Villa goes Hollywood
In the 1910’s someone approached D W Griffiths (“The Martyrs of the Alamo”) in Fort Lee New Jersey, the Hollywood of the time, to submit to him a new project never seen before. Pancho Villa was the one who originated the project. At that time, he seriously needed cash, and the US embargo on arms was compromising his Revolution. Pancho Villa decided to reverse his public image in the US by asking the most famous director of the time (D W Griffith) to make a movie of his Revolution against Huerta. Villa asked to the studios for $25,000 dollars, plus 20% of all the movie’s earnings.
The first documentary ever
D W Griffith never filmed directly. It was too risky for the main US director of that time. One of his assistants did: Frank N Thayer. Frank N. Thayer is the one who filmed the scenes of this first war documentary ever!!!! The “Dorados,” the personal guards of Villa, protected each member of the production while they were filming real fights. In the midst of such savagery, Thayer lost the control of his bladder during one of the first battles, but he kept filming. John Reed, the socialist journalist became part of the project.
The Revolution is staged and becomes Mutual Film Corporation’s Revolution
The movie and the chaotic footage melted with dust and gun powder was a fiasco. So Mutual Films decided to stage the Revolution of Pancho Villa, resulting in $25,000 more in costs. Villa was required to fight only during daylight hours because the light was better for the production crew. Villa was now the puppet of the studios, like they were at the beginning of the movie.
The documentary goes/becomes a screenplay
Finally, the studios wrote an entire screenplay based on Pancho Villa’s life and they decided to adapt that biography on screen. Raoul Walsh (one of the best directors and actors of his time) directed the movie and played the young Pancho Villa. The real Villa appeared as the President of Mexico in the last scene with a moving speech about the many who died, but the one who continue to lives: Mexico. The movie “Life of General Villa” released in 1914 became the world's first full-length feature film. This movie changed the whole perception Americans had of Pancho Villa. President Wilson soon lifted the embargo on arms.
Aftermath
Fort Lee, New Jersey was no longer the center of the movie industry, and the main studio companies relocated in Hollywood. Even so, the CNN-isation of wars became part of our everyday life because of Pancho Villa. His Revolution was not merely a revolution against a dictatorial regime, but also a complete revolution of the movie industry. The concept of war correspondents originated with Pancho Villa who asked the Hollywood of his time to direct it. Finally, Mutual Films ended up staging of Pancho Villa’s fights.
We don’t have the footage of the 1914 original “Life of Pancho Villa” movie directed by Raoul Walsh, but we have some footage of the the Battle of Ojinaga in a museum in Mexico City. We also have in a museum the actual contract signed by Pancho Villa along with Frank N. Thayer and the Mutual Film Company.
In 2003, HBO invested 30 million dollars in the movie “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,” which tells the whole story of that Revolution that became staged by the Hollywood of his time.
According to Larry Gelbart, the screenwriter of this 2003 HBO movie:
“This was a totally uneducated man, and yet he was compared to Napoleon in terms of his battle tactics."
Mutual Films Corporation President Harry Aitken (who produced the 1912-1914 movie) said: "I found him to be a very different man from the uncouth bandit he has been painted. He is a serious dignified man who conducts the affairs of his army in a systematic and orderly manner, which would do credit to a much older and experienced military man. It was his idea to have the battles filmed. He wanted to raise some money to buy arms, but he was [aware] of the fact that more people would probably see him in a film than could read about him in the newspaper. He was that bright."
In this 2003 HBO movie, Huerta refers to Villa as a “movie star.” This is the most expensive television/cable movie ever made. The budget of this HBO movie is worth $30 million.
How can an uneducated man revolutionize the whole movie industry to that point? Is Villa the one who initiated the whole CNN concept with its war correspondents? Is Villa the very first one to use the movie industry as a propaganda tool? What kind of impact did this propaganda movie have on the Marxist director Eisenstein in his filming of “Que Viva Zapata”?
This whole concept continues today with the Sub-Commandant Marcos who keeps staging his Revolution from the Chiapas.
In the 1910’s someone approached D W Griffiths (“The Martyrs of the Alamo”) in Fort Lee New Jersey, the Hollywood of the time, to submit to him a new project never seen before. Pancho Villa was the one who originated the project. At that time, he seriously needed cash, and the US embargo on arms was compromising his Revolution. Pancho Villa decided to reverse his public image in the US by asking the most famous director of the time (D W Griffith) to make a movie of his Revolution against Huerta. Villa asked to the studios for $25,000 dollars, plus 20% of all the movie’s earnings.
The first documentary ever
D W Griffith never filmed directly. It was too risky for the main US director of that time. One of his assistants did: Frank N Thayer. Frank N. Thayer is the one who filmed the scenes of this first war documentary ever!!!! The “Dorados,” the personal guards of Villa, protected each member of the production while they were filming real fights. In the midst of such savagery, Thayer lost the control of his bladder during one of the first battles, but he kept filming. John Reed, the socialist journalist became part of the project.
The Revolution is staged and becomes Mutual Film Corporation’s Revolution
The movie and the chaotic footage melted with dust and gun powder was a fiasco. So Mutual Films decided to stage the Revolution of Pancho Villa, resulting in $25,000 more in costs. Villa was required to fight only during daylight hours because the light was better for the production crew. Villa was now the puppet of the studios, like they were at the beginning of the movie.
The documentary goes/becomes a screenplay
Finally, the studios wrote an entire screenplay based on Pancho Villa’s life and they decided to adapt that biography on screen. Raoul Walsh (one of the best directors and actors of his time) directed the movie and played the young Pancho Villa. The real Villa appeared as the President of Mexico in the last scene with a moving speech about the many who died, but the one who continue to lives: Mexico. The movie “Life of General Villa” released in 1914 became the world's first full-length feature film. This movie changed the whole perception Americans had of Pancho Villa. President Wilson soon lifted the embargo on arms.
Aftermath
Fort Lee, New Jersey was no longer the center of the movie industry, and the main studio companies relocated in Hollywood. Even so, the CNN-isation of wars became part of our everyday life because of Pancho Villa. His Revolution was not merely a revolution against a dictatorial regime, but also a complete revolution of the movie industry. The concept of war correspondents originated with Pancho Villa who asked the Hollywood of his time to direct it. Finally, Mutual Films ended up staging of Pancho Villa’s fights.
We don’t have the footage of the 1914 original “Life of Pancho Villa” movie directed by Raoul Walsh, but we have some footage of the the Battle of Ojinaga in a museum in Mexico City. We also have in a museum the actual contract signed by Pancho Villa along with Frank N. Thayer and the Mutual Film Company.
In 2003, HBO invested 30 million dollars in the movie “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,” which tells the whole story of that Revolution that became staged by the Hollywood of his time.
According to Larry Gelbart, the screenwriter of this 2003 HBO movie:
“This was a totally uneducated man, and yet he was compared to Napoleon in terms of his battle tactics."
Mutual Films Corporation President Harry Aitken (who produced the 1912-1914 movie) said: "I found him to be a very different man from the uncouth bandit he has been painted. He is a serious dignified man who conducts the affairs of his army in a systematic and orderly manner, which would do credit to a much older and experienced military man. It was his idea to have the battles filmed. He wanted to raise some money to buy arms, but he was [aware] of the fact that more people would probably see him in a film than could read about him in the newspaper. He was that bright."
In this 2003 HBO movie, Huerta refers to Villa as a “movie star.” This is the most expensive television/cable movie ever made. The budget of this HBO movie is worth $30 million.
How can an uneducated man revolutionize the whole movie industry to that point? Is Villa the one who initiated the whole CNN concept with its war correspondents? Is Villa the very first one to use the movie industry as a propaganda tool? What kind of impact did this propaganda movie have on the Marxist director Eisenstein in his filming of “Que Viva Zapata”?
This whole concept continues today with the Sub-Commandant Marcos who keeps staging his Revolution from the Chiapas.
posted by Nicolau Pereira at 4:51 PM
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