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Article: La venganza de Pancho Villa (The Vengeance of Pancho Villa): A lost and found border film*
- Article from:
- Journal of Film Preservation
- Article date:
- December 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Federation Internationale des Archives (FIAF) Dec 2002. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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On January 5, 1914, Frank N. Thayer, representing Mutual Film Corporation and General Pancho Villa, head of the Constitutionalist army in the Mexican revolution, gathered in the office of attorney Gunther Lessing in El Paso, Texas, to sign a contract.
In it, Pancho Villa agreed to give exclusive rights to Mutual to film the triumphant campaign of his army on its way down to Mexico City. As a result of this contract, the film The Life of General Villa was made, becoming perhaps, one of the first biographical films ever made and "...One of the oddest episodes in film history", according to film historian Kevin Brownlow.1
The Life of General Villa opened its commercial run in the Lyric Theater ...