The Hun Within (1918)

Genres - Drama, War, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Melodrama, War Drama  |   Release Date - Sep 8, 1918 (USA)  |   Run Time - 55 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza

By the time this picture was released, World War I was nearly over and the public was tired of the same old spy stories. This picture has Dorothy Gish doing her patriotic duty by submerging her comic talents in favor of wartime melodrama. Beth (Gish) lives with her sick father (Adolphe Lestina). Before he dies, the father entrusts Beth to the care of his friend Henry Wagner (George Fawcett), a German-American. While Henry is faithful to his adopted country, his son, Karl (Charles Gerard), who has been studying in the Fatherland, has thrown his lot in with the Kaiser. Meanwhile, Frank Douglas, a school chum of Beth's (Douglas MacLean), has joined the U.S. secret service. Upon his return, Karl makes plans to blow up a ship which is transporting soldiers to France. Beth, who is now living with the Wagners, overhears these plans and Karl locks her in the cellar of the Germans' headquarters so she won't stop them. But Frank outwits the villains by rescuing Beth and heading for the ship. The bomb is thrown overboard only moments before it is set to explode. This picture had two things in its favor -- it was made by D.W. Griffith's production company (although it was directed not by the master but by his frequent assistant Chester Withey), and it features Erich von Stroheim in a particularly nasty role as one of the German spies.

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Keywords

war, agent [representative], America, boy, chemistry, citizen, elder, encounter, father, fortune [wealth], Germany, home, hostility, love, man, return, sabotage, son