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His Sergeant’s Stripes
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 950 feet
Directed by William F. Haddock
Cast: Francis Ford [the corporal], Edith Storey [the rancher’s daughter]
Méliès Star-Film [American] production; distributed by Méliès Star-Film [American]. / Produced by Gaston Méliès. Cinematography by William Paley. / Released 17 November 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 19 November 1910, page ?] A young corporal in the United States Cavalry in the Black Hills is very much in love with a young ranchman’s daughter who lives near the military barracks. He asks her to marry him and she promises to do so when he has won his third stripe, making him sergeant. It is not long before he receives an assignment from his superior officer to carry an important dispatch to the commanding general at Fort Darrow. In the successful fulfillment of his mission he would be promoted to the office of sergeant, and secure his third stripe and his girl. He meets his sweetheart and tells her of his dangerous and important errand. In telling it, he is overheard by one of the hostile Indians, who notifies others of the tribe, and they watch his every move, follow him when he starts, and pursue him when he tries to escape. The young fellow finds it impossible to get away from them and, as instructed in case of danger, he burns the dispatch, faithful to the performance of his duty rather than the preservation of his life. The girl, feeling sure that the young soldier would become a sergeant and her husband, patiently and anxiously awaits his return. She sews the third stripe on his coat sleeve, anticipating his promotion, little knowing it would only bear witness to his honor while he lay silent in the grave. He is killed by the red men who find his body but not the dispatch, only the ashes of it. He has won his stripes and his girl, but has lost his life in his country’s service.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Native Americans - Soldiers
Listing updated: 7 August 2023.
References: Thompson-Star pp. 142-143, 229 : ClasIm-226 p. 54 : Website-AFI.
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