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Kit Carson
(1910) United States of America
B&W : One reel / 990 feet
Directed by Fred J. Balshofer
Cast: (unknown)
Bison Life Motion Pictures production; distributed by Motion Picture Distributing & Sales Company. / Produced by Adam Kessel and Charles O. Baumann. / Released 26 August 1910. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: [The Moving Picture World, 27 August 1910, page ?] Kit Carson, the scout, picturesquely attired, mounted on a whirlwind horse, saves a band of settlers from the attack of an Indian band. The savages are discovered by Carson In full war paint riding at breakneck speed to the attack. In a sensational gallop from cabin to cabin, he rounds up the settlers and sees them safely installed in the stockade. Scene after scene of startling intensity is shown, holding the audience breathless as the mad race for cover is made, with the shrieking Indians missing their quarry by a providential second. Carson knows full well that the little band cannot long withstand the attack of the savages, and rides for reinforcements, urging his steed to a terrific pace. While he is absent, the unequal conflict is raging, the pioneers’ wives and children loading the guns and the men firing. The Indians circle round and round, showering volleys of arrows into the little fortress. The ranks of the whites are thinned and the redmen suffer heavy losses when the invaders succeed in setting fire to the stockade. In the meantime, Carson has reached a camp of trappers. The situation is explained in a word and they dash furiously to the rescue, arriving in the nick of time. The Indians are put to rout, followed to their camp, and destroyed, and their tepees burned. The last picture shows the whites riding away, leaving behind them a spectacular blaze as a grim reminder of their vengeance.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 10 September 1910, page ?] Whether this is intended to represent an actual scene in the life of Kit Carson does not appear clearly; but at any rate, a picturesquely attired scout performs superhuman deeds in saving a party of settlers from an attack by Indians. All the features of the old-time frontier story are present. The surrounding band of whooping redskins, showering arrows into the stockade; the settlers' wives and children loading the guns for the men, and the scout all alone, riding at a terrific pace for help, and the arrival of the reinforcements in time to save the settlers from annihilation. It is thrilling and contains sufficient excitement for half a dozen pictures. Few films representing western scenes have been so filled with the stirring scenes which are popularly supposed to have occurred there.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Kit Carson
Listing updated: 7 August 2023.
References: Pitts-Hollywood p. 187 : Website-AFI.
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