Thursday, August 02, 2012

BANNING OF SPIRIT OF 76' FILM (1917), MORE UGLY PROOF OF THE LONG STANDING SUPPORT OF EVERYTHNG BRITISH BY THE U.S. GOVT.


The Spirit of '76 (1917) was a silent film directed by Frank Montgomery that depicted the American Revolution , and due to its depiction of British atrocities against Americans, caused the U.S. government to ban the film, and send its producer, Robert Goldstein, to Federal Prison for ten years, because it "violated the Espionage Act and was critical of the U.S.A.'s ally in WWI"


The film was produced by Robert Goldstein (born September 21, 1883), a Jewish immigrant from Germany who owned a costume shop. The Spirit of '76 was considered controversial at the time because of its depiction of the British atrocities during the American Revolutionary War, and "offended" tender pro-British sensibilities in America, while Wilson wanted to open up the Market to American Corporate Interests with the help of Britain.



The Spirit of '76 premiered in Chicago in May 1917, just one month after the United States declared war on Germany. The head of Chicago's police censorship board, a Mr M. Cicero Funkhouser, confiscated the film at the behest of Woodrow Wilson's Justice department on the grounds that it "generated hostility toward Britain", America's brand new ally. Goldstein trimmed the offending scenes, got federal approval for the censored version, and resumed the Chicago run. But when the film premiered in Los Angeles a few months later, Goldstein reinserted the deleted scenes concerning British atrocities. This was considered aiding and abetting the German enemy by the U.S. government, which after an investigation, arrested Goldstein.


The film was again seized and Goldstein was charged in federal court with violating the Espionage Act. At trial, the U.S. prosecutor argued that as the World War I effort demanded total Allied support, Goldstein's film was seditious on its face. Goldstein was convicted on charges of attempted incitement to riot and to cause insubordination, disloyalty, and mutiny by U.S. soldiers then in uniform as well as prospective recruits, and he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

"AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (AND ALL THAT CLAP TRAP)"

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