User Reviews

"The Fugitive" is a surprisingly moving D.W. Griffith Civil War short with a focus on the home front. Two sons named John (one from a Union family and one from a Confederate family) go off to war leaving behind their mothers and fiancées. Their respective foraging parties encounter each other and exchange fire, and the Union party runs into the woods near the home of the Confederate John. During the pursuit the two Johns fire on each other and Confederate John is killed. Union John (Edwin August) seeks shelter in a nearby house and persuades the mother (Kate Bruce) of the soldier he just killed to hide him. She continues to conceal him even after learning that he killed her son, basically to spare his mother the grief that she is experiencing.

Griffith shorts frequently emphasized this "brother against brother" theme of the war, probably because he came from the border state of Kentucky which furnished units to both armies.

Note that the confederate home has a portrait of George Washington on display. Also note the almost contemporary look and manner of Dorothy West (who plays the fiancée of the Confederate soldier), she looks and acts little different than a typical 2006 high school girl with acting aspirations.

The first script rewritten from an overseas civil war angle to the United States Civil War was Biograph Studio's Nov. 1910 film "The Fugitive." Screenwriter John MacDonagh, a native of Ireland and who fought alongside his brother Thomas MacDonagh in the Easter Rising Rebellion (1916), wrote the script based on Ireland's sectional battles between the Orange (Protestants who favored allegiance to England) and the Green (Catholics who wanted independence). Director Griffith saw the workings of an adaptation of MacDonagh's script folded into the War Between The States. Simply by changing the fighters' uniforms, Griffith kept the script's plot of a soldier killing his opposite, then seeking shelter from his enemy by harboring inside the house of his victim. The deceased's wife at first was appalled by an enemy asking for sanctuary in her home (which was granted) and even more angered when the body of her dead husband was brought inside. Her anguish is the main focal point of her decisions, which were originally composed with the Catholic/Protestant dynamics of Ireland in mind. John MacDonagh had quite a career in the movie business. As an stage actor, he dabbled in writing film scenarios, including "The Fugitive." His brother Thomas was a primary leader of the Irish Rising. John joined the group during the rebellion, only to see it put down by the British. Thomas was executed, with John spending several months in jail before being released. He became involved with the Film Company of Ireland directing several plays. He eventually gravitated towards stage management, ending his career with Irish television's RTE as a production director.

In the middle of the American Civil War, in a peaceful valley, a foraging Union soldier meets a Confederate Picket and shoots him. What will the Confederate soldier's mother do when she discovers the refugee she has sheltered may have killed her child?

Griffith, reviled for the racism of BIRTH OF A NATION, sometimes by those familiar with the work and sometimes by those who have no idea what is in that movie, saw the Civil War as a tragedy for all Americans, full of complex problems for which there were no solutions. THE FUGITIVE, although not one of his best works, has been made available on DVD by Kino and is well worth your viewing time.

Fugitive, The (1910)

*** (out of 4)

Two soldiers, John the Southerner (Edwin August) and John the Northerner (Edward Dillon) leave their sweethearts and mothers behind to go fight in the war. Of course the two end up meeting on the battle field where the Southerner is killed. Soon afterwards the Northerner tries to take shelter at the home of his victim's mother. This is another interesting short from Griffith dealing with the Civil War. As you may notice none of them are that traditional and instead of doing an easy story the director tries to look at different aspects of the war. This time out the film really looks at the women who are often left behind wondering if their son or lovers will ever return. That aspect is a unique one and makes this film worth watching even when the story itself becomes a little far fetched. The two actors playing the soldiers do a fine job but it's Kate Bruce who steals the show as the Union soldiers mother. Dorothy West has a small role as well.

In the sting of the Civil War, mothers and sweethearts must wait and worry as their sons and lovers go off to the front. Forthwith, a Southerner named John (Edwin August) goes off to fight for the Confederacy. Meanwhile, a Northerner named John (Edward Dillon) goes off to fight for the Union. Naturally, the two opposing soldiers named John have a mother (Kate Bruce or Clara T. Bracey) and a sweetheart (Dorothy West or Lucy Cotton) waiting for their safe return. As fate would have it, the Johns meet on the battlefield, and one shoots the other. Later, Mr. August (of the Union) finds himself alone and pursued; the only refuge is the home belonging to Ms. Bruce, mother of the Confederate officer he shot. Thinking first as a mother, she hides "The Fugitive". Then, her wounded son is brought home! A nice idea, but rather slightly told, from director D.W. Griffith.

*** The Fugitive (11/7/10) D.W. Griffith ~ Edwin August, Edward Dillon, Kate Bruce

The writer of this film was John MacDonagh, who fought under the command of his brother Thomas MacDonagh, signatory of the Proclamation of Independence and one of the seven leaders, in the 1916 Rising in Ireland. MacDonagh made other films - most famous today is his film of Michael Collins selling the first bonds of the Dail Loan to a succession of national figures including Grace Plunkett (MacDonagh's sister-in-law; her sister Muriel (née Gifford) was married to Thomas MacDonagh), and his brother Joseph, who would die on hunger strike on Christmas Day 1922. John MacDonagh went on to write several films - The Casey Millions, Wicklow Gold, Willie O'Reilly and His Colleen Bawn - and to be an entrepreneurial manager of the Queen's Theatre in Dublin, before joining 2RN, later RTE, the Irish national radio and television station, where he worked until retirement in 1947.