Civilization is a 1916 American pacifist drama film produced by Thomas H. Ince, written by C. Gardner Sullivan and Edward Sloman, and directed by Ince, Reginald Barker and Raymond B. West. The story involves a submarine commander who refuses to fire at a civilian ocean liner supposedly carrying ammunition for his country's enemies. The film was a big-budget spectacle that was compared to both The Birth of a Nation and the paintings of Jean-François Millet. The film was a popular success and was credited by the Democratic National Committee with helping to re-elect Woodrow Wilson as the U.S. president in 1916. The film was one of the early movies to depict Jesus Christ as a character, leading some to criticize the depiction as in "poor taste."

Civilization is sometimes viewed as one of the first anti-war films. In 1999, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Prologue

The film opened with a lengthy prologue. In some theaters, the prologue was performed by live actors and an orchestra.

C. Gardner Sullivan, The film's screenwriter, said he received the inspiration for the film on Easter Sunday morning in 1915. He wrote an outline on a single piece of typewriter paper, originally calling it "The Mothers of Men." Sullivan showed the outline to Ince, and Ince decided it was worth investing $1 million.</blockquote>

At the time of its release, it was described as "the ultimate achievement of the Ince studios." Advertising for the film (pictured at right) boasted of the extravagant expense incurred in presenting the spectacle:

George Fisher was given the daunting role of playing "The Christ" in Civilization. He was "the first cinema actor to portray Christ for the screen."</blockquote>

The premiere was held at the Majestic Theatre in Los Angeles on April 17, 1916.

Cast

  • Howard C. Hickman as Count Ferdinand
  • Herschel Mayall as The King of Wredpryd
  • George Fisher as The Christ
  • Enid Markey as Katheryn Haldemann
  • Lola May as Queen Eugenie
  • J. Frank Burke as Luther Rolf, The Peace Advocate
  • Charles K. French as The Prime Minister
  • J. Barney Sherry as The Blacksmith
  • Jerome Storm as The Blacksmith's Son
  • Ethel Ullman as The Blacksmith's Daughter
  • Kate Bruce as A Mother

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The film was a popular success when it was released in 1916. The Democratic National Committee credited the film with helping to re-elect President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. After the United States's entry into World War I, the film was pulled from distribution.

Critical reaction

Among critics, the reaction was mixed.

Positive reviews

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, a newspaper reviewer called it a "masterpiece" and the "Biggest Spectacle in History of Motion Pictures," surpassing even D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation:

<blockquote>The photoplay and the spoken drama will be united for the first time in...the million dollar masterpiece of Thomas H. Ince...Civilization is an encyclopedia of the emotions. It is inevitable to compare such a picture, epic in its scope, including battles and the upheaval of a nation, to a similar picture, Griffith's Birth of a Nation. Ince has excelled his predecessor in the art of suggestion. In the vivid battle scenes of Civllization, there are four suggestive flashes for every one Griffith gave us. The conception is classically correct. No theater could be conceived that would be adequate in space or speed of action to carry across to an audience what was conveyed in this film.</blockquote>

In Indiana, a reviewer emphasized the film's spectacular effects and its depiction of Jesus:

<blockquote>'If Christ Should Visit Verdun' would make a good subtitle for Civilization, for that is really its theme...Pictorially, and in the spectacular effects that can be achieved within range of the camera, as well as in the sheer beauty of many of its scenes, it is a masterpiece indeed. Days of peace in the little town of Wrepryd, which is its locale, and in the peaceful country thereabout, might have been posed by the artist Millet, so strikingly do they stand out.</blockquote>

In Fairbanks, Alaska, a reviewer wrote that, if the film had been shown to the people of Europe before the war started there would have been no war:

<blockquote>Civilization is worth $1.50 today, tomorrow, or at any time. It is a masterpiece—a picture that grips and thrills. It preaches a powerful sermon and preaches it in a way that makes it interesting...After seeing Civilization one can truthfully say that had Henry Ford produced a film like this one that Ince directed, and sent it broadcast throughout the civilized world as an argument against war, he would have accomplished more for universal peace than did his famous 'peace expedition.' He would have reached the great mass of people who have but a faint recollection of the horrors of war, and would have showed them the pain and the suffering and the sorrow that war brings with it. Had such a picture as Civilization been shown to the people of Europe before the war started there would have been no war.</blockquote>

Negative reviews

Henry Christeen Warnack in the Los Angeles Times was troubled by the depiction of The Christ and wrote that the film "is not daring, it is only poor taste." He opined that it was offensive to the beliefs of Christians, Jews and atheists alike:

<blockquote>[T]he play will...be popular with everybody with the exception of three classes: It will probably prove offensive to Christians because they are likely to think of it as irreverent; to the Hebrew it will seem mystical and exaggerated; the non-church-goer will find it absurd and undramatic. Outside of the Christian, the Jew and the unbeliever, I haven't the doubt of its appeal.