Love and War in Mexico (1913)

The Moving Picture World, Vol. XVI, No. 8, May 24, 1913, p. 832:

LOVE AND WAR IN MEXICO (Special, 2 parts. May 28).—James Hudson, a young civil engineer, is engaged in surveying land In Southern California, when he meets and falls in love with Pequita, the daughter of Don Jose Alvarado, a Mexican farmer. Pequita learns to love Hudson and they are eventually married. Two years pass and Hudson has become addicted to the use of liquor, and has grown tired of Pequita. One day, while in a drunken rage, he strikes her, and as she falls unconscious, and he, being unable to revive her, believes her dead. He runs from the house, and, after a long journey, falls exhausted at the door of a mission. The padre finds him and takes him inside, where he is nursed back to health and eventually becomes a monk. In the meantime, Pequita has been found by her father and taken to his home, where her little son is born.

Twenty years elapse and the son, grown to manhood, has joined the insurgent Mexican army and is selected to do duty as a spy. He enlists in the Federal forces and in the execution of his duties as a spy, he is discovered and tried by court martial. He is condemned to death, but when the commanding officer visits him in his cell, the boy overpowers him and escapes by donning the officer’s cloak and bat. A detachment of soldiers give chase and overtake him at the door of the mission. The padre protects the boy and requests that he be allowed one hour for confession, after which the padre promises to deliver the prisoner to them. The officer consents and the boy is led inside. He requests that his mother be sent for and a monk goes to bring her. When she arrives she immediately recognizes the monk as her husband, and tells him that the boy Is his son. At the expiration of the hour the officer demands his prisoner, and the men are waiting outside the mission gate to carry out the execution. As the boy and mother are kneeling in prayer, the father dons the cloak and cap in which the boy escaped and goes out. As he opens the gate and steps forth, be is met by a volley of bullets from the guns of the soldiers, who march away, believing they have done their duty. The mother and son rush from the mission and fall weeping across the body of the father who, with his life, atoned for the suffering he had caused them.

The Moving Picture World del 24 de mayo de 1913 (Vol. 16, No. 8, p. 784)

The Moving Picture World, Vol. XVI, No. 11, Jun. 14, 1913, p. 1135:

«LOVE AND WAR IN MEXICO» (Lubin), May 28 — A melodramatic picture of revolutionary times in Mexico. It is in two parts; but would have been better in one. The scenario was worthy of artistic treatment, but is very poorly acted. The scenes too, are poorly composed and, with dull photography, are more of a hindrance in that they give the mind something to be dissatisfied with, when it would prefer to think of nothing but the story. The opening is particularly dull and without the snap that it ought to have and, in these early scenes, the «degenerate husband’s» brutalities are annoying. Some people left the theater, others laughed and made fun of them. In the end, this man has become a very devout priest, thinking his wife dead. Twenty years late, his son, whom he has never seen or heard of is to be shot by the Federals and runs to the church. The priest promises the captain to bring the fugitive in an hour and sends for the boy’s mother, a woman of the village, whom he doesn’t know is his wife, until they meet.

Ficha filmográfica: Love and War in Mexico (1913) Norteamericana. B & N: dos rollos. Productor: Siegmund Lubin para la Lubin Manufacturing Company. Distribución: The General Film Company, Inc. Estrenada el 28 de mayo de 1913. Director: Wilbert Melville. Intérpretes: Henry King (James Hudson); Irene Hunt (Paquita); Carl von Schiller (Manuel, el hijo); James Fitzroy (José).

Motography del 31 de mayo de 1913 (Vol IX, No. 11, p. 6)

Motography del 31 de mayo de 1913 (Vol. IX, No. 11, p. 6):

James Hudson married to a beautiful Mexican girl in a drunken fit strikes her and leaves her for dead. He seeks refuge in a Mission and becomes a monk. Pequita is nursed back to life and has a son. Twenty years later the boy becomes a spy in the Mexican Revolution, he is discovered and sentenced to be shot. He escapes but is pursued by the soldiers to the Mission. There he pleads that they send for his mother. In the Mission, Pequita recognizes her husband. The monk takes the boy’s hat and cloak and coming out of the gate, places himself in front of the guns.

The Moving Picture World del 24 de mayo de 1913 (Vol. 16, No. 8, p. 784)

The Moving Picture World del 24 de mayo de 1913 (Vol. XVI, No. 8, p. 784):

James Hudson is married to a beautiful Mexican girl Pequita. In a maudlin condition he strikes her and leaves her for dead. He seeks refuge in a Mission and becomes a Monk. Pequita is nursed back to life and has a son. Twenty years later, the boy becomes a spy in the Mexican Revolution, is discovered and sentenced to die. He escapes, but the soldiers trace him to the Mission and capture him. He pleads that they send for his mother. She recognizes her husband and tells him it is his son. The father changes clothes with the boy and suffers the penalty.

The Moving Picture World del 24 de mayo de 1913 (Vol XVI, No. 8, p. 781)

The Moving Picture World del 24 de mayo de 1913 (Vol XVI, No. 8, p. 781)

As its title implies, a Mexican war drama of more than usual interest. Two reels, produced by LUBIN.  A young American, a civil engineer, makes the fatal mistake of marrying the daughter of a Mexican farmer. They quarrel and he strikes her, leaving her for dead. Years later, he does penance for his crime, by giving his life for his son, who has been captured as a spy.

Emilio García Riera en México visto por el cine extranjero (Vol. I, p. 55) menciona:

Otras,  como las de In the Days of Gold (1911) y The Fatal Black Bean (Título antológico – El frijol fatal – de 1915), se probaban aguerridas al disfrazarse de hombres, y las hubo abnegadas al sufrir en Fate’s Interception (1912) y en Love and War in Mexico (1913) los agravios de un mal marido gringo.

En el volumen II de la misma obra, García Riera nos proporciona una sinopsis:

El ingeniero James Hudson, casado con la mexicana Paquita, hija del ranchero don José Alvarado, se vuelve con los años alcohólico. Cansado de su mujer, la desmaya a golpes; la cree muerta, por lo que huye y llega después de un largo viaje a un monasterio, donde lo cuida un fraile. Hudson se hace religioso a su vez. Veinte años después, el hijo de Paquita se une a los revolucionarios mexicanos y debe cumplir una misión de espionaje entre los federales, pero es descubierto y condenado a muerte. Sin embargo, logra huir disfrazado con el uniforme del jefe federal, a quien vence cuando el segundo lo visita en la prisión. El joven llega en su fuga a un monasterio, donde un fraile pide a sus preseguidores que permitan su confesión. Llega Paquita y reconoce a Hudson en el fraile. Hudson se disfraza como su hijo para morir en su lugar.