Their One Love - 1915

Their One Love: One reel, approx. 1,020 feet, released May 2, 1915.
Civil War drama with spectacular night battle sequences, featuring "The Twins" Marion and Madeline Fairbanks.
Directed by John Harvey. Scenario by Gertrude Thanhouser. Photographed by Carl Louis Gregory.
Print source: British Film Institute, 15 minutes, 20 seconds.
Cast: Madeline and Marion Fairbanks (the twin sisters), Robert Wilson (Jack, the soldier), Charles Emerson (Jack as a boy).
Original music composed and performed by Ray Brubacher thanhouser.org/​people/​Rayb.htm.
One of the many Civil War movies made during the 50th anniversary of the conflict. This was one of Thanhouser’s last one-reel dramas and was released just after Griffith’s Civil War epic Birth of a Nation. Griffith’s monumental picture had included three long-shots of nighttime pyrotechnics that included superimposures to complete the effect. Their One Love has an elaborate and spectacular eleven-shots night battle sequence with pyrotechnics and electric lighting effects, plus far more elaborate staging, editing, action, and pictorial drama than Griffith’s example. Thus, film historians consider Their One Love to be the first fiction film to fully realize the technique of night cinematography. The night sequence was filmed three weeks after Birth opened in New York.

Source: www.thanhouser.org
For futher information on films by Thanhouser, visit the site above. Let’s keep memories of this great studio alive.