[Advertising Broadside/Brochure] The Battle Cry of Peace

Boston: Printer: The Libbie Printing Co., 1915. Brochure. Very Good. A scarce advertisement for a "photo-drama of war", released in 1915 and now mostly lost. The movie was for its day a huge spectacle, using as it did a cast of thousands, to advance its pro-war message. The plot of the epic was premised on the Central Powers exploited American Pacifists to keep the U.S. from arming itself and then attacking the militarily unprepared and weak U.S. In the movie all kinds of atrocities are then committed against Americans. The movie, directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Wilfrid North, starred Charles Richman, Norma Talmadge, Mary Maurice, and L. Rogers Lytton. 26.5 by 18.5 cm. 4 pp., but with the qualities of a broadside on the front cover or first page as well as the inner two pages in which a dozen scenes of the movie are set forth with still photos and captions. The back cover has quotes from famous Americans, past and present, along with an endorsement of the movie by Theodore Roosevelt, whose assistance was supposedly instrumental in the producer getting assistance from the War Department. Also listed on the last page are the special effects employed in the movie, such as the bombardment of new York, whole buildings toppling, Wall Street in flames, sea battles, and much, much more.