War Brides (1916)




Alla Nazimova - War Brides




Joan is loved by a young man from her village and they get married. However, her husband, a soldier, is sent to the front lines along with his three brothers. Joan receives word that her husband has been killed in battle and her initial impulse is to commit suicide. However, she is pregnant and her impending motherhood makes her realize her new responsibilities. The military authorities start a campaign to encourage young women in the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Joan hears that the King is going to pass through their village and organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, but Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, sending the message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.


Books with substantial mentioning of War Brides

Anthony Slide and Edward Wagenknecht
Fifty Great American Silent Films 1912-1920, A Pictorial Survey
New York, 1980


Year: 1916
Country: United States
 
IMDb: 0007539