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The Rosary
(1913) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley
Cast: Phillips Smalley [the soldier], Lois Weber [the soldier’s sweetheart]
Rex Motion Picture Company production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated. / Scenario by Lois Weber. / Released 4 May 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? The opening scene shows a soldier holding a string of pearls with a cross in the center. As he kisses the cross the words of the song appear on the screen:“The hours I spent with thee, dear heart, Are as a string of pearls to me; I count them over, every one apart, My rosary, my rosary.” The soldier is seen bidding good-bye to his sweetheart. For the last time they embrace. The girl’s mother weeps as she sees the stalwart youth leaving for the front. As the young officer mounts his horse and rides away the girl falls in a faint to the ground. Again the words of the song appear among the leaves of the trees above her: “Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer, To still a heart in absence wrung, I tell each bead unto the end, And there a cross is hung.” The months pass. The soldier is seen now at the campfire and now in battle. Always here appears before him the face of the girl he loves. And then one day he is wounded and taken to the hospital. The girl hears that he has been killed, and grief-stricken, she enters the convent. But her soldier sweetheart finally recovers after long months of fever and delirium. And when the war ends he returns, to find that the one he loved best has taken irrevocable religious vows.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 10 May 1913, page ?] If you know of anyone skeptical about the artistic possibilities of the moving pictures, tell him to see this film. It reprints the familiar song, “The Rosary,” verse by verse, and tells a story that will delight observers everywhere. The close is tender and effective, and tears spring to the eyes as the returning soldier finds his sweetheart has become a nun. The scenes are pictured within a rosary and the film tints of blue and orange are very pleasing. Phillips Smalley enacts the leading role. A very desirable offering.
Survival status: Print exists.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 20 February 2024.
References: Website-IMDb.
Home video: Blu-ray Disc, DVD.
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