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As WWI blanketed Europe in late 1914, several American moviemakers endeavored to honor President Woodrow Wilson's neutrality edict by producing films of a pacifistic nature. One of these, now forgotten but considered a powerful anti-war statement in its time, was the 4-reel In the Name of the Prince of Peace. For the benefit of those filmgoers who craved a bit of action with their sermon, the film opened with a spectacular battle sequence, with French and German artillery going at each other with everything in their respective arsenals. The bulk of the story takes place in a captured German church, defended by a French artillery detachment. Among the soldiers is Baron von Kraft, a German spy. Also tending the church is a beautiful young nun, the former sweetheart of Von Kraft's son Waldo. Unwittingly exposing the Baron as a secret agent, the nun despairs upon realizing that she has condemned him to death. She tries to prevent the execution, only to be accidentally felled by the bullets herself. Thus does warfare claim not only the guilty but the innocent, and thus is the film's "lesson" spelled out in large capital letters.