The Spirit of '76 (1917)

16 Howard Gaye and Adda Gleason

This was a propaganda film (as many World War I films were) but this one was pro-German. The film emphasized British atrocities against American colonists. It was banned in Chicago, but was able to play a short run at Clune's auditorium in Los Angeles. However, the U. S. Department of Justice seized the film and producer-writer Robert Goldstein was arrested. The government was afraid that the film would inflame feelings against the British government, which was allied with the United States in the war. The government also worried that the graphic battle scenes would discourage men from enlisting in the military. Goldstein was sentenced to prison for ten years, but President Woodrow Wilson commuted his sentence and Goldstein was in prison for less than two years. -- Bruce