The Spirit of '76 (1917 film)

The Spirit of '76
Advertisement for movie
Directed by	Frank Montgomery
Produced by	Robert Goldstein
Written by	Robert Goldstein George L. Hutchin
Starring	Adda Gleason Howard Gaye Chief Dark Cloud
Cinematography	J. C. Cook
Production company	Continental Producing Company
Distributed by	State Rights
Release date	1917
Running time	9-12 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent

The Spirit of '76 (1917) was a controversial silent film that depicted both factual and fictional events during the American Revolutionary War. The film was directed by Frank Montgomery and produced and written by Robert Goldstein. Goldstein would later go to Federal prison for violating the Espionage Act, because of scenes depicted in the film. No prints of the movie have been known to survive, and it is categorized as a lost film.

A romance between King George III of England and a Quaker girl, Catherine, who becomes his morganatic wife, forms the early part of the story. Catherine is really half Indian, being the daughter of a French adventurer and an Indian woman, adopted and brought to England by a Quaker voyager. The hardships of the American colonists are shown and their rebellion against the English rule. In this rebellion, Catherine sees a chance to avenge herself upon the King, who has legally married a German princess. She goes to America and becomes a power over a tribe of Indians. One of her aides is her own brother, who had been adopted by a colonist. Brother and sister are unaware of the relationship until the close of the story. The gallant fight which the Americans under General Washington wage against the English troops and the Indians under Catherine's lead forms a thrilling phase of the story and the chief incidents with which every American is familiar are dramatically set forth. In addition, there are several minor plots and romances, some of which end happily, others tragically, when the war is over and the fight for freedom won.

The film was produced by Robert Goldstein (born September 21, 1883), a California native of German Jewish ancestry, and a costume supplier in Los Angeles. Goldstein outfitted the cast of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), and was reportedly inspired by Griffith's film to produce a cinematic interpretation of the American Revolution. Griffith initially encouraged and cooperated with Goldstein, but later distanced himself from that project in favor of pursuing his own treatment of the subject, the 1924 film America.