The Powder Flash of Death (1913)
Pals Reid, Neilan, and Kirkland breast the breakers of their roving life with but one condition of creed: nothing was to come between them to sever or impair the sincerity of their ties of friendship. Regardless of what extremity of life they encountered, they religiously respect their one law of sharing alike; that is, until the fall of Sumter, when the call to arms invaded homes and divided brother against brother. That same loyalty to their country's cause creates a triangle of sentiment that calls one of the pals to the South, one to the North, and the remaining one to the more roving life of the guerrilla. For three years the blood of the nation is spilled in bitter strife. The same three years spared the three former pals and each in his peculiar lot has reached the office of captain. As the war raged, and each fought for his own respective people's cause, through the irony of fate their lines gradually convert toward a common point south of the Dixie line, where dwells a Southern lass, one unconsciously destined to play a part in romance where tragedy was to unite for a brief moment the sundered ties of friendship, then call In death the three who once had been pals. Her home was marred by the stain of war when a company of guerrillas enters. And while she suffers the terror of that invasion, a Northern company and a Southern company likewise each skirmish for victory, each of the three common enemies commanded by three men who had, during the reign of peace, lived as pals. And "she" is the prize for which a personal battle is waged, more bitter than that fought with shot and shell by the three common enemies. As their companies fight, the three captains agree (knowing that "she" would be had by but one), to stand backwardly to the points of an angle, lay a fuse to a charge of powder in the center, and at the flash turn to meet and begin firing, the winner to claim the prize. While the preparations are being made, "she" stands in terror to watch the ending. At the flash, three shots ring out. The guerrilla captain falls and lays motionless; the Southerner staggers to his Northern pal with the dying words: "A woman burst us up after all." The Northerner clasps his extended hand as his pal falls, then, with an ever gathering stain on his own breast, he doffs with a valorous deference his own hat to the "cause" and "joins in eternity" the two who were once his pals.
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| Filmmakers | Role |
|---|---|
| Allan Dwan | Director |
| Allan Dwan | Writer |
| Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Wallace Reid | |
| Pauline Bush | |
| Marshall Neilan | |
| Jessalyn Van Trump |
