#751) Heroes All (1920)

#751) Heroes All (1920)

OR “A Red Cross to Bear”

Produced by the Red Cross Bureau of Pictures

Class of 2009

Funny story: Thanks to Ken Schenk I learned that “Heroes All” is available for viewing through the National Archives if you email the Archives and request a digital copy. I emailed the Archives, filled out the request form, got the link to download the file, e-signed an agreement that I wouldn’t share the link with anyone, and watched “Heroes All” with no problems. TWO DAYS LATER the film was uploaded for viewing on the National Archives website. Watch it here with significantly less red tape than I did.

The Plot: “Heroes All” is a salute to not only the heroes who fought during World War I, but also the heroes at the American Red Cross who are helping our veterans upon their return home. Our film follows a group of veterans as they are treated at the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C., where Red Cross volunteers help treat their injuries alongside the Walter Reed staff. Many of our veterans stay at the Red Cross Convalescent House at Walter Reed, where they are further rehabilitated through lodging, vocational courses, and outings to various D.C. landmarks. It’s a patriotic, maybe too upbeat look at how we took care of our veterans over a century ago, brought to you by the short-lived film branch of the American Red Cross.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls “Heroes All”, as well as the many other films produced by Red Cross at the time, “invaluable historical and visual records of the era.” An essay by Gerry Veeder, Ph.D. is a recap of both “Heroes All” and the Red Cross Bureau of Pictures.

But Does It Really?: While I have a few qualms with this movie (we’ll get to those later), “Heroes All” does what any good NFR film does; it represents a specific time and place for this country, shining a light on both our war veterans and our Red Cross volunteers. If nothing else, “Heroes All” gave me an excuse to research institutions like the Red Cross and Walter Reed that I’ve heard of all my life but know nothing about. A pass for the NFR induction of “Heroes All”; I’m just glad it’s finally online after all these years.

Everybody Gets One: The first chapter of the American Red Cross opened in 1881 in New York. Co-founder Clara Barton had witnessed the relief aid that the International Red Cross was providing during the Franco-Prussian War and wanted to bring that type of organization stateside. In its first 40 years, the American Red Cross offered aid to such events as the Johnstown flood, the Spanish-American war, the Titanic sinking, the 1918 flu pandemic, and of course World War I. Following America’s entrance into the Great War in 1917, the Red Cross set up their own Bureau of Pictures to create films that could be used as promotional and/or fundraising tools. In the next four years, the Red Cross made over 100 short films, some filmed abroad, and some like “Heroes All” filmed in one of their own chapters.

Wow, That’s Dated: Primarily the evolution of medical practices in the last century, as well as how we treat our veterans. It is interesting, however, to watch something that treats WWI as a singular occurrence; a sort of “Glad that’s over, let’s get back to normal” sort of thing. I can’t quite articulate it, but the advance knowledge of a second world war makes this film seem weirdly tone-deaf in hindsight.

Other notes

IMDb lists an Anthony Young as the director and writer of “Heroes All”, but I can’t find anything to back that up (he is not mentioned in either the NFR write-up or the corresponding Veeder essay). More likely he is the director of an unrelated 1931 film also called “Heroes All” that tends to get conflated with the 1920 “Heroes All”. Given the lack of reliable information on either film, we may never know for sure.
Shoutout to the real-life Walter Reed, a U.S. Army physician who proved in the early 1900s that yellow fever was spread by a species of mosquito and not, as previously believed, by direct contact. Walter Reed Hospital is one of many posthumous honors Reed has received, including the Walter Reed medal, and the 1938 movie “Yellow Jack” starring Lewis Stone as Reed.
Right off the bat this film is giving off an uber-patriotism vibe, with shots of the Capital and reference to “every soldier who follows the American flag” receiving medical treatment. This must be what the US Army was hoping John Huston would give them with “Let There Be Light”. This patriotic approach continues throughout, and honestly, I think the only thing keeping this movie watchable is its lack of sound. If “Heroes All” had a soundtrack with a flag-waving narrator and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” in the background I would have gone nuts.
Today in old timey phrases that sound dirty but aren’t: “Yankee pluck”. Back then it meant American ingenuity, today it would cost extra.
Among the rehabilitation efforts at the Red Cross Convalescent House are shots of our veterans playing with a parrot and a monkey. I’m no doctor, but how do they help with rehabilitation? If you’re going to have animals around for therapeutical services, what about animals that won’t peck your eyes out or fling their poo at you? Just saying. I do love that this is immediately followed by a shot of our veterans sitting around a roaring fireplace, unintentionally implying what became of the animals.
Everything being done for these veterans is commendable, but “Heroes All” makes the Red Cross House look like a summer camp. Of course, recreational activities like swimming are a vital part of rehabilitation, but what about their PTSD? Is anyone doing anything about that? Obviously, we know so much more about PTSD now than we did in 1920, but its absence here makes the final film feel…off.
Speaking of summer camp, it’s field trip time! Our veterans visit the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and basically everything I didn’t see on my D.C. trip a few years back. Another stop on the tour is B.F. Keith’s Theatre, one of many vaudeville houses that was about a decade away from converting into a movie theater. Fun Fact: B.F. Keith was the K in RKO.
Among the vocational courses offered by the Red Cross to veterans who can’t go on the field trips: Woodworking, basket weaving, clay modeling, and yes, even filmmaking! In a brief shot, the veterans are shown the correct speed to hand crank a movie camera, which as I learned from the “Hollywood” documentary series is the same tempo as the “Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s “il Trovatore”. I know that has nothing to do with anything we’re talking about, but there’s only so much I can say about this film’s rehabilitation practices. And hey, this is a film blog, so that information isn’t entirely off-topic.
Another one of the “weekly excursions” is to a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Cleveland…sorry I can’t quite make out that team name. They even meet Cleveland’s manager and center fielder Tris Speaker, as well as the Nationals’ manager Clark Griffith (misspelled “Griffiths” in the intertitle). Side note: The present-day Washington Nationals are an unrelated team (they were the Montreal Expos until 2005). The Nationals depicted here moved to Minneapolis in the 1960s and are now the Minnesota Twins.
I agree with the Veeder essay that this film’s treatment of paraplegics is uncomfortable. The loss of one or multiple limbs from the war is depicted here as a temporary inconvenience, with prosthetics being used as a catch-all solution. I know we’ve only got 10 minutes and this film is a promotional tool, but this is an infinitely more complex situation that deserves more attention. And while we’re on the subject of paraplegics and amputees, do you have to make them race each other? I just watched these guys compete in both a wheelchair race and a one-legged race! I’m sure it was intended as equitable, but it comes across as cruel and unusual.
The film concludes with one of our veterans receiving the Distinguished Service Cross presented by Colonel James D. Glennan, a senior officer in the Medical Corps. And just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, we end with the waving American flag and a brief shot of the Statue of Liberty. Cue “The Star-Spangled Banner” and play ball!

Legacy

After WWI ended and public interest in war-related humanitarian efforts waned, so did the Red Cross’s desire to make films, and their Bureau of Pictures was dissolved in 1921.
Walter Reed Hospital continued to expand and evolve over the next 90 years until it relocated in 2011 to its current location in Bethesda, Maryland. The former Walter Reed Hospital is now called The Parks at Walter Reed and is part of an ongoing redevelopment of that land by Washington D.C. into commercial and residential areas. I’m not sure of the timeline, but the Red Cross Convalescent Home was demolished at some point; most likely before the 2011 relocation.
The American Red Cross is still around and offering countless humanitarian services, including its famous blood donor program which started in 1948. Among the Red Cross’ recent efforts was helping support victims of the L.A. wildfires. Check them out and support their work.