WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.100 You know, when you picture going to the movies 00:00:02.100 --> 00:00:05.679 in, say, 1911, you probably imagine something 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:08.419 incredibly quaint. Oh, definitely. Like sitting 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:11.300 in a cramped, stuffy Nickelodeon theater. Right. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:13.419 Maybe smelling the ozone from the projector, 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:16.120 watching a really scratchy, flickering black 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.940 and white reel of, I don't know, a train pulling 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:21.260 into a station. Or perhaps someone comically 00:00:21.260 --> 00:00:23.679 slipping on a banana peel while a ragtime piano 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.940 just hammers away in the corner. Exactly. You 00:00:25.940 --> 00:00:29.339 expect the experience to be a little slow. visually 00:00:29.339 --> 00:00:32.259 simplistic, and above all, you know, innocent. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:34.979 Right. Totally tame by today's standards. Well, 00:00:34.979 --> 00:00:37.439 what if I told you that in 1911, audiences were 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.579 actually lining up around the block for a scandalous 00:00:40.579 --> 00:00:43.560 international thriller? Oh, a thriller in 1911. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.740 Oh, yeah. A film packed with kidnapping, drug 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.420 -induced hypnosis, high -stakes harbor patrol 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:52.560 chases, secret trap doors, and on top of all 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.200 that, a massive global censorship battle. Wow. 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:57.640 That completely shatters that illusion of the 00:00:57.640 --> 00:00:59.960 innocent silent era, doesn't it? It really does. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.520 So welcome to today's deep dive. Today, we are 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:04.900 opening up the archives on a fascinating piece 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.299 of cinematic history for you. We are looking 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:11.819 at the Wikipedia article on the 1911 Danish silent 00:01:11.819 --> 00:01:14.840 drama film, A Victim of the Mormons. War, as 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:17.480 it was known in its native Denmark, Mormons offer. 00:01:17.500 --> 00:01:21.840 Right. We are going to explore how a single highly 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:25.510 controversial 51 minutes silent film became an 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:28.049 absolute international sensation. And how it 00:01:28.049 --> 00:01:30.569 weaponized what we now call the Stray Sand effect. 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.480 decades before that term even existed, plus how 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.140 it essentially single -handedly launched a decade 00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:38.599 -long propaganda genre in American cinema. Yeah, 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:40.739 and before we dive into the details of this story, 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:42.900 I think it is crucial to establish some ground 00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:45.140 rules for you listening right now. Absolutely. 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:47.840 We are exploring this historical source material 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.760 purely objectively as an artifact of early cinema. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.060 We are absolutely not endorsing or validating 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:56.079 the anti -Mormon sentiments or the religious 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:57.799 viewpoints presented in the film. Of course not. 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.299 Rather, our goal is to examine how this specific 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.180 piece of media was constructed, why it was made, 00:02:03.379 --> 00:02:06.000 and how it sparked a massive cultural and censorship 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.360 battle back in 1911. I really appreciate that 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.340 disclaimer because I mean looking at the plot 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:15.319 of this thing it's hard to stay purely academic. 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:18.379 It is wild. It reads like a modern daytime soap 00:02:18.379 --> 00:02:21.740 opera crossed with like a Jason Bourne movie. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:25.000 Yeah. The global uproar doesn't even make sense 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.080 until you realize what was actually playing out 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:30.199 on the screen. So, okay, let's unpack this plot. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:32.840 Let's do it. We start at a luxurious seaside 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:36.280 hotel in Denmark, right? Yes. The film stars 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:39.460 Claire Pontopadan as Florence Grange. Though, 00:02:39.580 --> 00:02:41.599 if you were watching the original Danish release, 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:43.780 her character was actually named Nina Graham. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.020 Okay. Got it. Florence is this attractive, young 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:49.439 Danish woman vacationing at the seaside resort 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:51.659 with her father, her brother George, and her 00:02:51.659 --> 00:02:55.259 fiance Leslie. Right. And right away, the film 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:57.919 sets up a very classic, very recognizable... 00:02:57.550 --> 00:03:00.349 melodramatic dynamic. Florence clearly cares 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:02.569 for Leslie, but he's distracted. He's sort of 00:03:02.569 --> 00:03:04.650 ignoring her, right? Exactly. He is neglecting 00:03:04.650 --> 00:03:06.810 her, completely taking her for granted. Which, 00:03:06.810 --> 00:03:09.270 as we know, leaves the door wide open for a charming 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:11.909 stranger to walk into the hotel restaurant. Exactly. 00:03:12.509 --> 00:03:15.009 One evening, Florence's brother introduces the 00:03:15.009 --> 00:03:17.550 family to a young American named Andrew Larson. 00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:21.090 Played by Voldemort Solander. Yes. Andrew is 00:03:21.090 --> 00:03:23.509 a Mormon priest, and he is immediately drawn 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:26.060 to Florence. He hands her an admission card to 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:28.240 a meeting. And because her fiance is ignoring 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.680 her, Florence just starts spending a ton of time 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:34.319 with this strangely fascinating America. Oh, 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:36.139 who's suddenly giving her all this attention. 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:38.460 Right. And this is where the movie takes a hard 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:42.979 left turn from a quaint romantic drama into a 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:45.520 full -blown psychological thriller. It really 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:47.539 escalates quickly. Andrew doesn't just woo her 00:03:47.539 --> 00:03:50.759 with nice words. The plot explicitly states he 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:53.620 uses indoctrination and literally hypnosis to 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:55.780 lure Florence away and convince her to run off 00:03:55.780 --> 00:03:58.580 to Utah with him. Yeah, hypnosis. Which makes 00:03:58.580 --> 00:04:00.960 me wonder, how on earth did they depict hypnosis 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.780 in a 1911 silent film? Was it just like... intense 00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:07.400 staring into the camera? Basically, yes. A lot 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:10.319 of intense staring, dramatic posturing, and highly 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:12.560 exaggerated physical acting to convey that Florence 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.080 was losing her own free will. The film goes out 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:17.660 of its way to claim she acts partly out of passion, 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.339 but heavily under the influence of this hypnotic 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:22.600 trance. Right. So she sneaks away to meet Andrew 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.910 at the railway station. Meanwhile... Her father 00:04:26.910 --> 00:04:29.790 finds a note from Andrew left in her room and 00:04:29.790 --> 00:04:31.970 realizes what's happening. So the brother and 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:35.269 the fiance call the police. Who then alert the 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:38.029 harbor patrol. Oh wait, a high stakes harbor 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:41.550 patrol chase in 1911. Yep. How are they even 00:04:41.550 --> 00:04:45.129 filming that with those massive, stationary early 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:47.529 cameras? I'm imagining it's incredibly difficult 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.750 to coordinate action sequences on moving boats. 00:04:50.889 --> 00:04:53.670 Oh, it was. Early cinema was just barely starting 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:55.889 to learn the grammar of cross -cutting and chase 00:04:55.889 --> 00:04:57.870 sequences. Right, the editing techniques were 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:00.410 so new. Exactly. So you would have a lot of wide, 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:02.629 static shots of boats moving through the frame 00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:05.290 combined with just frantic acting on the docks. 00:05:05.490 --> 00:05:07.350 But the narrative mechanics of the chase are 00:05:07.350 --> 00:05:10.439 surprisingly modern. How so? Well, Andrew realizes 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:13.040 the authorities are closing in. So with the help 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.420 of an accomplice, he actually drugs Florence 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:19.259 to keep her compliant. Yeah. Then they find another 00:05:19.259 --> 00:05:21.420 couple walking near the docks and completely 00:05:21.420 --> 00:05:24.240 swap hats and coats with them to act as decoys. 00:05:24.459 --> 00:05:26.620 Which is brilliant for a villain. I mean, that's 00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:29.420 a classic trope. It really is. The Harper patrol 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:31.519 ends up detaining the innocent couple wearing 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.379 Florence's clothes. And by the time Florence's 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:36.720 brother and fiance arrive at the docks to rescue 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.279 her and unravel the decoy trick, it's too late. 00:05:40.740 --> 00:05:43.319 Andrew and Florence are already on a steamship 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:46.120 heading for America. But the action doesn't stop 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.199 once they are on the boat either. Florence wakes 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.199 up, the hypnosis or the drugs wear off, and she 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:54.199 has a sudden change of heart. She demands to 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:56.839 go home. And Andrew lies and assures her that 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:00.680 they will. Meanwhile, back on land, the police 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.100 manage to send a telegraph to the ship to warn 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:05.060 the captain about the kidnapping. But Andrew 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:08.060 intercepts it. Yes. He physically overpowers 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:10.480 the ship's telegraph operator before the plot 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.279 can be exposed. It's just nonstop action. Hold 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:14.839 on. I'm trying to picture the geography here. 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:16.879 He gets her all the way across the Atlantic, 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:19.740 off the boat, onto a train, and all the way to 00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:22.259 Salt Lake City, Utah, and nobody stops them. 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:24.759 Well that's the magic of silent film editing. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.439 The story needs them in Utah for the climax, 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.379 so poof, to Utah they go. Fast travel unlocked. 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:33.959 Exactly. Andrew gets Florence to Salt Lake City 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.850 and locks her in a bedroom. Florence actually 00:06:36.850 --> 00:06:39.569 manages to win the sympathy of Andrew's first 00:06:39.569 --> 00:06:41.589 wife. Who is played by Emily Sanam, I believe. 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:44.750 Right. But a desperate escape attempt fails. 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:48.269 Eventually, Florence's brother and fiance arrive 00:06:48.269 --> 00:06:50.829 in Utah to track them down. They confront Andrew 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:54.550 at his house. And Andrew just plays dumb, right? 00:06:55.050 --> 00:06:57.709 He sends the brother and the fiance off on a 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:00.350 wild goose chase elsewhere in the city. And while 00:07:00.350 --> 00:07:03.069 they're gone, Andrew takes Florence and hides 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:06.910 her in a dark... dank cellar. But not just any 00:07:06.910 --> 00:07:09.689 cellar. A cellar that can only be accessed by 00:07:09.689 --> 00:07:12.209 a secret trapdoor. He just happened to install 00:07:12.209 --> 00:07:15.050 a secret trapdoor in his Utah home. It is the 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:17.009 absolute height of pulp fiction. It's so good. 00:07:17.209 --> 00:07:18.889 The brother and fiancee realize they've been 00:07:18.889 --> 00:07:20.709 tricked, they burst back into the house, but 00:07:20.709 --> 00:07:23.069 they can't find her anywhere. Andrew is standing 00:07:23.069 --> 00:07:26.129 there pleading his absolute innocence. But then, 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:29.769 by pure cinematic look, Florence discovers a 00:07:29.769 --> 00:07:32.269 hidden button inside the cellar. She presses 00:07:32.269 --> 00:07:35.189 it, the secret trapdoor swings open, and her 00:07:35.189 --> 00:07:38.250 fiancé frees her. But Andrew still isn't done. 00:07:38.569 --> 00:07:41.089 No, he pulls a pistol, tries to shoot Florence, 00:07:41.230 --> 00:07:44.509 the fiancé tackles him, there's a desperate thrashing 00:07:44.509 --> 00:07:47.649 struggle for the gun, and Andrew accidentally 00:07:47.649 --> 00:07:50.970 shoots himself and dies. Roll credits. I mean, 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:53.589 it is absolutely mind -blowing. We think of early 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:56.970 cinema as so tame, but they were giving audiences 00:07:56.970 --> 00:08:00.230 hypnotic seduction, drug kidnappings, and trapdoor 00:08:00.230 --> 00:08:02.860 shootouts. It was a master class in melodrama. 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.240 But to understand why this film exists and why 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.240 it was so extreme, we have to look behind the 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:09.800 camera. Right, the studio motivations. It's baffling 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:12.339 to think that a Danish studio in 1911 would even 00:08:12.339 --> 00:08:14.339 care about an American religion headquartered 00:08:14.339 --> 00:08:16.589 in Utah. Why target them? Well, because they 00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:18.410 weren't really targeting a religion, were they? 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:20.910 They were targeting a highly lucrative formula. 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:23.209 Exactly. Let's look at what Nordiskfilm, the 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:25.790 studio behind this, was doing just a year prior. 00:08:26.769 --> 00:08:30.250 Nordiskfilm was a major Danish studio. And by 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:34.190 1911, they had figured out a very specific, very 00:08:34.190 --> 00:08:36.929 profitable genre. It was known at the time as 00:08:36.929 --> 00:08:39.929 the white slavery film. Oh, boy. That sounds 00:08:39.929 --> 00:08:43.029 exactly like what it is, doesn't it? Unfortunately, 00:08:43.250 --> 00:08:46.580 yes. These were films that portrayed young, naive, 00:08:46.779 --> 00:08:49.159 usually European women who were kidnapped, held 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:51.820 captive, and placed in imminent danger of forced 00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:55.100 prostitution or sexual assault. Yikes. Nordisk 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:57.820 had already produced a string of massive hits 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:01.299 utilizing this exact template. In 1907, they 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:04.360 released The White Slave Girl. In 1910, they 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:06.779 released The White Slave Trade. And then naturally, 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.279 because it made so much money, the sequel, The 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.460 White Slave Trade's Last Victim. Now, obviously, 00:09:11.539 --> 00:09:13.519 a film studio in 1911 couldn't just come out 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.379 and put on a poster, hey, we're making these 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.159 movies because audiences love watching sensationalized 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.500 exploitation and women in compromising positions. 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:23.039 No, absolutely not. They needed cover. They needed 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:25.379 an official public stance to justify putting 00:09:25.379 --> 00:09:28.129 this on screen. And they found one. Nordisk Film 00:09:28.129 --> 00:09:30.149 officially stated that these films were purely 00:09:30.149 --> 00:09:33.269 educational. They claimed very seriously to the 00:09:33.269 --> 00:09:36.049 press that they were making these movies to expose 00:09:36.049 --> 00:09:39.250 the social dangers of white slavery and to warn 00:09:39.250 --> 00:09:41.590 young women about the perils of traveling alone 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:43.570 or trusting strangers. Isn't claiming you're 00:09:43.570 --> 00:09:46.809 making this purely for social awareness the 1911 00:09:46.809 --> 00:09:49.659 equivalent of saying I only read it for the articles. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:51.879 Pretty much. I mean, come on. They knew exactly 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:53.279 what they were doing. They were selling tickets 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:55.840 to a moral panic. What's fascinating here is 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:58.679 how early cinema established this psychological 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:01.299 pattern for its audience. They quickly learned 00:10:01.299 --> 00:10:04.419 how to mask profitable exploitation behind a 00:10:04.419 --> 00:10:07.039 veneer of moral instruction. Right, to give people 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:09.580 an excuse to watch it. Exactly. If a film was 00:10:09.580 --> 00:10:12.620 just pure sleaze, polite society would shun it. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.460 But if it was framed as a necessary warning, 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.120 it gave the audience permission to watch something 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:20.340 scandalous without feeling guilty. That makes 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:22.519 a lot of sense. And because those previous films 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:25.220 were so incredibly popular, Nordisk decided to 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:28.539 take that formula and elevate it. A victim of 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:30.879 the Mormons was greenlit to be their next big 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.500 prestige project. And when you say prestige, 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.700 it's hard for us today to grasp what that meant 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.659 in 1911. Today, you know, prestige project is 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:43.679 a $200 million blockbuster. look like for Nordisk 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:46.360 film back then? It meant throwing unprecedented 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:49.399 resources at it. The director, August Blum, was 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:51.879 the studio's bright new talent, and he had a 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:54.700 real flair for this kind of intense melodrama, 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:57.519 but the biggest resource they committed was time. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:01.240 In 1911, films were generally quite short, usually 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:03.860 one reel, maybe lasting 10 to 15 minutes. Really 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:05.960 short. Right. Audiences weren't used to sitting 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.799 for long narratives, and film stock was incredibly 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:12.059 expensive. But Nordisk shot a video victim of 00:11:12.059 --> 00:11:15.940 the Mormons on three reels. It ran 3 ,200 feet 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:18.559 long, which translates to about 51 and a half 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:20.519 minutes of screen time. Yes, that made it one 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:22.600 of the longest Danish films of its era. This 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:25.200 was the 1911 equivalent of James Cameron releasing 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.639 a three and a half hour 3D epic today. It was 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.759 a massive technological and financial risk. It 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:33.440 absolutely was. And to secure that investment, 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:36.159 they brought in the biggest prestige factor possible, 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:39.639 the casting. Specifically, the casting of Voldemort 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:42.669 Cylinder as the villain. Andrew Larson. Someter 00:11:42.669 --> 00:11:45.169 is such an interesting figure. When he was cast 00:11:45.169 --> 00:11:47.389 in this film, it was only his third movie for 00:11:47.389 --> 00:11:50.110 Nordisk film. But he had just achieved international 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:52.250 recognition earlier that year in a film called 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:55.110 At the Prison Gates. He was a sensation. He was 00:11:55.110 --> 00:11:57.169 already Nordisk's highest paid actor. Right, 00:11:57.330 --> 00:12:00.649 think of him as the Leonardo DiCaprio of 1911 00:12:00.649 --> 00:12:03.129 Denmark. He was the ultimate heartthrob. Which 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:05.570 brings up a huge question for me. If you have 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:08.129 the absolute biggest, highest paid, most handsome 00:12:08.129 --> 00:12:11.039 leading man in your studio, Why put him in the 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.360 terrifying villain role? It's counterintuitive. 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:16.139 Yeah. Usually you'd cast him as the heroic fiance 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:18.340 coming to save the day. Yeah. How does casting 00:12:18.340 --> 00:12:21.460 your heartthrob as the bad guy change the audience's 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:23.940 experience? It was a brilliant, albeit very cynical, 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:26.600 psychological play by the director, August Blum. 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:29.840 By casting their biggest snar, their most charismatic 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.340 leading man, as the Maniculator, it makes the 00:12:32.340 --> 00:12:34.820 seduction of Florence entirely believable to 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:37.259 the audience. Oh, that's clever. Samantha brings 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.629 this terrifying charm to the role. The audience 00:12:40.629 --> 00:12:42.629 is naturally drawn to him because he's a movie 00:12:42.629 --> 00:12:44.950 star, just as Florence is drawn to him in the 00:12:44.950 --> 00:12:48.129 story. So it creates this uncomfortable cognitive 00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:50.950 dissonance. Exactly. You like him, but he is 00:12:50.950 --> 00:12:53.190 doing horrible things, which makes the betrayal 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:55.409 and the kidnapping feel so much more visceral 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:57.570 and shocking. It totally anchors the movie. Yeah. 00:12:57.789 --> 00:13:00.370 And his real life story is just incredibly tragic, 00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:04.049 isn't it? Yes. Surrender went on to make 83 films 00:13:04.049 --> 00:13:07.769 over the next six years. Wait, 83 films in six 00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:10.590 years? He was an absolute workhorse and he remained 00:13:10.590 --> 00:13:13.830 the highest paid Danish actor until 1917 when 00:13:13.830 --> 00:13:16.090 he tragically committed suicide at the age of 00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:20.029 just 32. That is so sad. But in 1911 he was at 00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:22.769 the very beginning of this meteoric rise and 00:13:22.769 --> 00:13:25.450 his star power was a massive driver of the Thurms 00:13:25.450 --> 00:13:28.149 international hit status. So you take a massive 00:13:28.149 --> 00:13:31.059 heartthrob star You give him an exploitative, 00:13:31.100 --> 00:13:33.519 sensational plot wrapped in a fake moral warning, 00:13:33.720 --> 00:13:36.159 and you back it with a massive 51 -minute runtime. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:38.299 You have the perfect storm. Now you just need 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.179 an aggressive marketing campaign to light the 00:13:40.179 --> 00:13:43.379 match. And they had one. The premiere was set 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.320 for October 10, 1911 at the Panopticon Theater 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.899 in Copenhagen, followed just a week later by 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:52.580 a release in London. And Nordisk Film did not 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:55.279 hold back on the advertising. They leaned right 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.620 into the controversy. Immediately. They distributed 00:13:57.620 --> 00:14:00.340 these highly sensational programs to theaters 00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:03.879 with taglines screaming, extraordinary exposure 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:07.019 of a terrible doctrine. Wow. And they bragged 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:09.600 in the advertising copy saying, this exciting 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.480 and effective modern drama, which reveals the 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.039 Latter Day Saints ruthless propaganda, is one 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:17.809 of film's great international successes. And 00:14:17.809 --> 00:14:20.190 the trade papers, which at the time were essentially 00:14:20.190 --> 00:14:23.190 just hype machines designed to convince local 00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.429 theater owners to buy the film reels they bought 00:14:25.429 --> 00:14:27.710 right into it. Of course they did. Magazines 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:30.389 like Bioscope wrote, This great winner creates 00:14:30.389 --> 00:14:32.710 a record booking. And the American trade paper 00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:35.370 Motion Picture News declared it has no equal 00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:38.429 as a moneymaker. They were practically foaming 00:14:38.429 --> 00:14:40.590 at the mouth over the potential ticket sales. 00:14:40.929 --> 00:14:44.419 But obviously you can't release a movie. loudly 00:14:44.419 --> 00:14:47.000 declaring it's an exposure of a terrible doctrine 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:49.120 without the people you're attacking noticing. 00:14:49.580 --> 00:14:51.980 The Latter -day Saints church in Europe and America 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:55.220 saw this marketing campaign and immediately pushed 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:58.820 back. The public condemnation was swift. The 00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:01.580 LDS church presidency formally complained to 00:15:01.580 --> 00:15:04.139 the American National Board of censorship. What 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:06.879 was that board exactly? It was a relatively new, 00:15:07.059 --> 00:15:09.799 unofficial body at the time, trying to legitimize 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.159 the film industry by policing its morals. Oh, 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:15.779 okay. The church demanded that all references 00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:18.559 to Mormonism be completely removed from the title 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:21.240 and the content of the film before it could be 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.240 shown in America. Here's where it gets really 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.480 interesting. This is a textbook case of the Streisand 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.159 effect. Oh, absolutely. Decades before Barbara 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:31.299 Streisand ever took a photo of her house on the 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:34.690 coast. By going to the censorship board and trying 00:15:34.690 --> 00:15:37.830 to ban the movie, the church inadvertently handed 00:15:37.830 --> 00:15:40.370 Nordisk Film the greatest marketing campaign 00:15:40.370 --> 00:15:43.029 they could have ever asked for. Every newspaper 00:15:43.029 --> 00:15:45.429 wanted to cover the attempted ban. If we connect 00:15:45.429 --> 00:15:47.009 this to the bigger picture, you have to look 00:15:47.009 --> 00:15:49.409 at the mechanics of controversy. When the National 00:15:49.409 --> 00:15:51.470 Board of Censorship ultimately failed to act 00:15:51.470 --> 00:15:53.610 and the film was released completely unchanged, 00:15:54.230 --> 00:15:57.210 the attempted ban became the actual story. The 00:15:57.210 --> 00:15:59.450 studio capitalized on it perfectly. They effectively 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:01.850 told the public, Come see the shocking movie 00:16:01.850 --> 00:16:04.009 that powerful institutions tried to stop you 00:16:04.009 --> 00:16:06.429 from seeing. It even reached the highest levels 00:16:06.429 --> 00:16:08.909 of state government. The governor of Utah at 00:16:08.909 --> 00:16:11.590 the time, William Spry, got involved. He was 00:16:11.590 --> 00:16:14.450 furious. He publicly blasted the Danish filmmakers, 00:16:14.990 --> 00:16:17.789 saying they were only exceeded in their perversion 00:16:17.789 --> 00:16:21.149 of the truth by their absurdity. Spry actually 00:16:21.149 --> 00:16:24.429 tried to use his executive power to ban the film 00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:26.529 from being shown in the state of Utah. And that 00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:29.450 effort failed as well. It did. The film was shown 00:16:29.450 --> 00:16:32.669 without any alterations in Utah theaters that 00:16:32.669 --> 00:16:35.870 very same year. The controversy generated so 00:16:35.870 --> 00:16:38.830 much curiosity that theaters just couldn't resist 00:16:38.830 --> 00:16:41.610 booking it. Money talks. I can't even imagine 00:16:41.610 --> 00:16:43.909 the tense atmosphere inside a Utah theater in 00:16:43.909 --> 00:16:46.929 1911 playing that movie while the governor was 00:16:46.929 --> 00:16:49.549 actively trying to shut it down. But the massive 00:16:49.549 --> 00:16:52.450 financial success of this controversy set a very 00:16:52.450 --> 00:16:54.789 clear, very dangerous message to every other 00:16:54.789 --> 00:16:57.350 film studio around the world. Which it was. Anti 00:16:57.350 --> 00:16:59.960 -Mormon panic sells tickets. It really opened 00:16:59.960 --> 00:17:03.080 the floodgates. By the time A Victim of the Mormons 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:05.299 had its wide release in the United States in 00:17:05.299 --> 00:17:08.519 February of 1912, it had already spawned a whole 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:11.539 genre. Rival Studios saw the box office returns 00:17:11.539 --> 00:17:13.859 from Nordisk and immediately started rushing 00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:16.420 their own copycat films into production to catch 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:19.619 in on the trend. We're talking major, legitimate 00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:22.680 studios here. The French studio Pathé Frères 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.140 churned out movies titled Marriage or Death and 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:27.200 Mountain Meadows Massacre. And American Studios 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.730 jumped in too, right? Yep. The American Film 00:17:29.730 --> 00:17:32.589 Manufacturing Company released the Mormon, and 00:17:32.589 --> 00:17:35.329 the Sullig Polyscope Company in Chicago released 00:17:35.329 --> 00:17:38.339 the Danites. For the next decade, this became 00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:41.700 a reliable, flourishing subgenre of propaganda 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.140 in early cinema. You had countless films portraying 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:48.599 Mormon villains as white slavers, ruthless terrorists, 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.680 and mesmerizing Svengales. The tropes really 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.819 solidified. Wait, Svengales meaning these sort 00:17:53.819 --> 00:17:56.500 of mystical, controlling manipulators who could 00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:59.000 somehow strip away a woman's free will just by 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.460 looking at her. Exactly. The term comes from 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:04.819 an 1894 novel, but early cinema adopted it as 00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:07.359 a visual shorthand. It became a standardized 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.099 cinematic trope for villainy, all tracing back 00:18:10.099 --> 00:18:12.380 to the financial success of August Bloom and 00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:14.640 Waldemar Salander's film. It created a template 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:17.099 for how to demonize a group on screen for profit. 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:20.079 It really did. But here is perhaps the wildest 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:23.099 twist in this entire story. This film, a victim 00:18:23.099 --> 00:18:26.480 of the Mormons, which was a massive three real 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.039 epic running over 50 minutes. Most of it is gone. 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:32.660 Sadly, yes. Out of the original 51 minutes of 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:35.660 35 millimeter film stock, only about 30 minutes 00:18:35.660 --> 00:18:37.680 have been recovered and preserved today. Yes. 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:40.559 Like so many films from the silent era, it is 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:43.160 partially lost to history. Why is that? Well, 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:45.240 early film stock was made of nitrate, which is 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:47.680 not only highly flammable, but also degrades 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:50.160 into jelly over time if not stored perfectly. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:52.920 Wow. Into jelly. Yeah. The fact that even 30 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:55.900 minutes survive is a minor miracle. That surviving 00:18:55.900 --> 00:18:58.119 footage has been transferred to 16 millimeter 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:00.720 film and videotape to prevent any further decay. 00:19:01.099 --> 00:19:03.799 But the irony is where this surviving footage 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:06.779 is actually kept. If you want to find a copy 00:19:06.779 --> 00:19:09.640 of this anti -Mormon propaganda film, you know 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:12.579 where it is. Where? It is safely on file in the 00:19:12.579 --> 00:19:15.400 LDS Church archives in Salt Lake City. Really? 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:18.099 Hold on, let me get this straight. The organization 00:19:18.099 --> 00:19:21.000 that begged the censorship boards to destroy 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.210 this film The organization whose governor tried 00:19:24.210 --> 00:19:27.109 to ban it from theaters is now the one spending 00:19:27.109 --> 00:19:29.809 resources to preserve its surviving footage. 00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:32.029 This raises an important question about the role 00:19:32.029 --> 00:19:34.509 of archives and the profound philosophical weight 00:19:34.509 --> 00:19:36.869 of preserving history. Right, because why save 00:19:36.869 --> 00:19:39.819 it? It would be incredibly easy for an institution 00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:42.420 to let a piece of offensive propaganda simply 00:19:42.420 --> 00:19:44.579 rot away, especially when they were the original 00:19:44.579 --> 00:19:47.099 targets of it. Why save the weapon used against 00:19:47.099 --> 00:19:49.680 you? Yeah, exactly. But preserving it acknowledges 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.279 the reality of what happened. Erasing the evidence 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:54.819 of a prejudice doesn't erase the prejudice itself. 00:19:55.299 --> 00:19:57.940 It just deprives future generations of the ability 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:00.720 to study how that smear campaign was constructed. 00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:03.480 That makes total sense. You cannot study the 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:06.460 history of early 20th century censorship. or 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:09.200 the development of propaganda on film without 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.759 artifacts exactly like this one. It really is 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.660 a profound shift in perspective. From trying 00:20:14.660 --> 00:20:17.799 to destroy the celluloid in 1911 to carefully 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:20.599 climate -controlling it a century later, it takes 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.339 a lot of institutional maturity to recognize 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:26.099 the historical value of something that was designed 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:28.400 to hurt you. It shows an understanding that history 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:31.339 requires a complete record, even the ugly parts. 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:34.490 It is an incredible journey. We started with 00:20:34.490 --> 00:20:37.329 a cynical cash grab by a Danish film studio looking 00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:40.250 to capitalize on a deeply exploitative white 00:20:40.250 --> 00:20:42.470 slavery trend. They threw unprecedented money 00:20:42.470 --> 00:20:44.869 at the runtime. Cast their biggest heartthrob 00:20:44.869 --> 00:20:47.329 to mess with the audience's psychology. Concocted 00:20:47.329 --> 00:20:49.869 a ridiculous plot with secret trapdoors and hypnosis. 00:20:50.109 --> 00:20:52.029 And slapped a fake educational warning on the 00:20:52.029 --> 00:20:54.490 poster to make it socially acceptable. And from 00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:57.089 there, it spiraled into a global censorship battle 00:20:57.089 --> 00:21:00.029 that completely backfired, inadvertently sparking 00:21:00.029 --> 00:21:02.450 an entire decade of American propaganda films. 00:21:02.890 --> 00:21:05.349 So what does this all mean for you listening 00:21:05.349 --> 00:21:07.779 today? I think it proves that the mechanics of 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:10.880 sensationalism, moral panic, and clickbait are 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:13.200 absolutely not products of the internet age. 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:15.700 We tend to think of viral outrage as something 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:18.279 born from social media algorithms. Oh, totally. 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:21.259 But Nordisk Film was perfecting the exact same 00:21:21.259 --> 00:21:24.400 formula in 1911 in silent black and white cinema. 00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:27.960 They knew that fear, scandal, and the lure of 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:30.480 forbidden media were the absolute fastest ways 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.240 to capture public attention and open their wallets. 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:36.130 Human nature hasn't changed just The delivery 00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:38.769 method, which leads us with a fascinating thought 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:40.990 to chew on. What's that? Think about the media 00:21:40.990 --> 00:21:43.990 today that institutions are actively trying to 00:21:43.990 --> 00:21:47.089 ban or suppress. The viral videos, the controversial 00:21:47.089 --> 00:21:49.890 documentaries, the censored posts, the things 00:21:49.890 --> 00:21:52.390 deemed too dangerous for the public to see. A 00:21:52.390 --> 00:21:54.369 century from now, which of today's dangerous 00:21:54.369 --> 00:21:56.930 pieces of media will be carefully preserved and 00:21:56.930 --> 00:21:59.450 studied in the climate -controlled archives of 00:21:59.450 --> 00:22:01.589 the very institutions that originally tried to 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:03.750 destroy them? That is a great question. Thank 00:22:03.750 --> 00:22:05.670 you so much for joining us on this deep dive. 00:22:05.829 --> 00:22:07.809 Stay insanely curious, and we'll catch you next 00:22:07.809 --> 00:22:07.970 time.