The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Encyclopedia
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (also known as The Battle of Elderbush Gulch) is a 1913 Western film
directed by D. W. Griffith
and featuring Mae Marsh
, Lillian Gish
, and Lionel Barrymore
.
) and her little sister are sent to visit their three uncles in the west. Among other baggage they bring their two puppies. Melissa (Lillian Gish
) is in the same stagecoach with husband and new born baby. The uncles find the little girls amusing but tell them that the dogs must stay outside. Meanwhile, a nearby tribe of very very evil looking Indians is having a tribal dance. The puppies, left outside in a basket, run off. Sally, worried about the dogs goes outside and discovers they are gone. She follows their trail and runs into two hungry Indians who have captured them for food. There is a scuffle but her uncles arrive and intervene. Gunfire ensues and one of the Indians is left dead. The other Indian returns to the tribe to inform them and aroused by "savage hatred" they go into a war dance.
Meanwhile, a tearful Sally has persuaded a friendly hand to build a secret door in the cabin so she can bring the puppies inside at night. The Indians attack the village and the frightened settlers run off toward the lonely cabin.
In the melee the baby is captured by the Indians. The Indians attack the cabin just after a scout rides off to alert the fort.
The Indians ride in circles around the cabin, While the settlers try to fight them off. Melissa, in the cabin, is distraught worrying about the fate of her baby. Sally, more worried about her puppies sneaks out her secret door and finds not only them, but the baby in the arms of a dead Indian. In a hectic battle scene, she brings the babies back through the secret door. Just as the settlers are running out of amnunition, the cabin is burning, and the Indians, crawling on their stomachs, are almost in the cabin, the cavalry arrives. The Indians are quickly dispatched, all is well but for Melissa's grief over her missing baby. Sally pops out of a chest holding baby and puppies. All is well. The uncle agrees to let Sally keep the puppies inside.
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
directed by D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
and featuring Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
, Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, and Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
.
Plot
Sally (Mae MarshMae Marsh
Mae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
) and her little sister are sent to visit their three uncles in the west. Among other baggage they bring their two puppies. Melissa (Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
) is in the same stagecoach with husband and new born baby. The uncles find the little girls amusing but tell them that the dogs must stay outside. Meanwhile, a nearby tribe of very very evil looking Indians is having a tribal dance. The puppies, left outside in a basket, run off. Sally, worried about the dogs goes outside and discovers they are gone. She follows their trail and runs into two hungry Indians who have captured them for food. There is a scuffle but her uncles arrive and intervene. Gunfire ensues and one of the Indians is left dead. The other Indian returns to the tribe to inform them and aroused by "savage hatred" they go into a war dance.
Meanwhile, a tearful Sally has persuaded a friendly hand to build a secret door in the cabin so she can bring the puppies inside at night. The Indians attack the village and the frightened settlers run off toward the lonely cabin.
In the melee the baby is captured by the Indians. The Indians attack the cabin just after a scout rides off to alert the fort.
The Indians ride in circles around the cabin, While the settlers try to fight them off. Melissa, in the cabin, is distraught worrying about the fate of her baby. Sally, more worried about her puppies sneaks out her secret door and finds not only them, but the baby in the arms of a dead Indian. In a hectic battle scene, she brings the babies back through the secret door. Just as the settlers are running out of amnunition, the cabin is burning, and the Indians, crawling on their stomachs, are almost in the cabin, the cavalry arrives. The Indians are quickly dispatched, all is well but for Melissa's grief over her missing baby. Sally pops out of a chest holding baby and puppies. All is well. The uncle agrees to let Sally keep the puppies inside.
Cast
- Mae MarshMae MarshMae Marsh was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years.-Early life:...
- Sally - Leslie Loveridge - A waif
- Alfred PagetAlfred PagetAlfred Paget was an English silent film actor. He appeared in 239 films between 1908 and 1918.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
- Waifs' uncle - Robert HarronRobert HarronRobert "Bobby" Harron was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in scores of films, he is possibly best remembered for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed films Intolerance and The Birth of a Nation...
- The father - Lillian GishLillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
- The mother - Charles Hill MailesCharles Hill MailesCharles Hill Mailes was a Canadian actor of the silent era. He appeared in 290 films between 1909 and 1935.He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and died in Los Angeles, California...
- Ranch owner - William A. CarrollWilliam A. CarrollWilliam A. Carroll , was an American silent film actor.Entering films with the Selig and Vitagraph film company, Carroll starred in 140 films between 1911 and 1927, including such works as 1916's The Twinkler....
- The Mexican - Frank Opperman - Indian Chief
- Henry B. WalthallHenry B. WalthallHenry Brazeale Walthall was an American film actor.-Career:Walthall began his career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway in a supporting role in William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide in 1906–1908. His career in movies began in 1908, in the film Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, which also...
- Indian Chief's son - Joseph McDermottJoseph McDermott (actor)Joseph McDermott , was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 76 films between 1912 and 1923.He died in Los Angeles, California by committing suicide.-Selected filmography:* Perils of the Yukon...
- Waifs' guardian - Jennie LeeJennie Lee (actor)Jennie Lee was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in fifty-eight films between 1912 and 1924, working especially under the famous directors John Ford and D.W. Griffith....
- Waifs' guardian - Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
- Elmer Booth
- Kate BruceKate BruceKate Bruce was an American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 289 films between 1908 and 1931.She was born in Columbus, Indiana and died in New York, New York.-Selected filmography:* The Golden Louis...
- Settler - Harry Carey
- Charles Gorman - Among the Indians
- Dell HendersonDell HendersonGeorge Delbert Henderson was a Canadian actor, director and writer in films from the early silent days.-Biography:Henderson was a frequent associate of film pioneer D.W. Griffith and, on a less prolific basis, Mack Sennett...
- Elmo LincolnElmo LincolnElmo Lincoln was an American film actor.Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the barrel-chested actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918's Tarzan of the Apes as an adult --...
- Cavalryman - W. Chrystie MillerW. Chrystie MillerW. Chrystie Miller was an American silent film actor. He appeared in 139 films between 1908 and 1914. He was born in Dayton, Ohio and died in Staten Island, New York.-Selected filmography:...
- Settler - W. C. RobinsonW. C. RobinsonW. C. Robinson was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 177 films between 1910 and 1932. He died in Maywood, California.-Selected filmography:* Daredevil Jack * Brute Force * Judith of Bethulia...
- Among the Indians - Blanche Sweet
See also
- List of American films of 1913
- Harry Carey filmographyHarry Carey filmographyThis is a list of films featuring Harry Carey.-1912:* An Unseen Enemy* Two Daughters of Eve* Friends* So Near, Yet So Far* A Feud in the Kentucky Hills* In the Aisles of the Wild* The One She Loved* The Painted Lady...
- D. W. Griffith filmographyD. W. Griffith filmographyThese are the films directed by the pioneering American filmmaker D. W. Griffith . According to the Internet Movie Database, he directed 534 films between 1908 and 1931.----...
- Lillian Gish filmographyLillian Gish filmographyThese are the films of Lillian Gish.----Silent: 1912 – 1913 – 1914 – 1915 – 1916 – 1917 – 1918 – 1919 – 1920s Post Silent: 1930s – 1940s – 1950s – 1960s – 1970s – 1980s – References-----1912:* An Unseen Enemy...
- Blanche Sweet filmographyBlanche Sweet filmographyThis is the filmography for Blanche Sweet. According to the Internet Movie Database, Sweet appeared in 161 films between 1909 and 1959.----1909 - 1910 - 1911 - 1912 - 1913 - 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 - 1919 - Later films - References-----1909:...