Bud’s Recruit
Source: Deutsche Kinemathek
Mrs Gilbert has two sons. The younger, Bud, wants to help fight in World War I. He enthusiastically joins a local youth militia, which uses a scarecrow dubbed “the Kizer” as a stand-in for the enemy, Emperor William II. Older brother Reggie, however, has no interest in the military. Emboldened by their mother, a pacifist agitator, Reggie pursues his own pleasures, while his younger brother observes “meatless Monday” and rehearses battle manoeuvres with their manservant. But then the younger boy comes up with a splendid idea for turning his slacker brother into a war volunteer … This oldest surviving King Vidor film was the first in a series of some ten educational shorts produced by Willis Brown (1881-1931), a juvenile court judge. King Vidor recruited the young cast from among Los Angeles Times newsboys. In 1953, King Vidor said, “I deeply believed in these films and I put my heart and soul into making them”. Although Bud’s Recruit uses a blazingly tinted, emblematic battle scene to rouse patriotic sentiment, the predominant mood of the film is one of double entendre and humour. This short was a small, cinematic field exercise that would be followed by 1925’s The Big Parade.
With
- Wallis Brennan
- Robert Gordon
- Ruth Hampton
- Mildred Davis
- Thomas Bellamy
- Ernest Butterworth Jr.
- Judge Willis Brown
Crew
Director | King Vidor |
Screenplay | Judge Willis Brown |
Producer | Judge Willis Brown |
Produced by
Boy City Film Co.
Additional information
Print: 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Santa Clarita, CA