Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

y the companies. (…) The reasons for such sympathy are complex
and can be reduced to a common denominator: in the eyes of some
companies and some American politicians, Villa was above all a
strong man who had implanted order in Mexico. In contrast with
(Venustiano) Carranza (the civil leader of the Revolution), Villa
apparently had sufficient authority to control the various
revolutionary groups which were often isolated from the rest, or in
rivalry one against another, but were still under a central authority”.2
Harry E. Aitken, President of the Mutual Film Corporation, affirmed
that it was he who decided to film the Mexican Revolution and to
send Frank M. Thayer to the city of Chihuahua to interview Villa and
negotiate a contract with him. This was achieved on January 3, 1914.
Among the clauses was one stipulating that Mutual Film would
exhibit its films on the Revolution in the area liberated by Villa and
throughout the whole of the United States and Canada. If the
cameramen could not film good battle scenes Villa undertook to fake
them, and promised not to allow operators and photographers from
other companies to film him. Villa was to receive 50% of profits, and
received an advance payment of $25,000 dollars. He reserved the
right to show the films to his men and promised to attack always in
daylight. Carl von Hoffman was in charge of the team of cameramen
who filmed the capture of Ojinaga on January 10, 1914.
The film was a disappointment. There were no good, exciting battles;
Villa did not wear an elegant military uniform but old, dirty city
clothes and a three day beard which made him look like a common
bandit, not a General; and the clouds of dust raised by the action
obscured the images. Mutual Film Corporation and Francisco Villa
agreed to make the images of the capture of Torreon and of Gomez
Palacio much more spectacular. Villa reorganized his army putting at
its head General Felipe Angeles, educated at Saint Cyr Military
School in France, who had created the artillery division and
inculcated a much-needed professionalism. Villa himself bathed and
shaved. The New York Times published the news that Mutual Film
gave Villa his first military uniform, that of a General of the army of
the South United States, and created for him a spectacular personal
escort, the so called élite “Dorados de Pancho Villa”. Mutual ordered
lighter cameras to be made in San Antonio, to give the operators
greater mobility in filming war action, and brought in cameramen
with greater experience in filming battle scenes, led by Karl von
Hoffman. According to Herbert Dean, one of the photographers, “for
the first time in a modern war (…) photographers and war
correspondents were allowed to move freely along the line of fire”.3
The result was admired in the film The Life of General Villa, seven
reels long, five of which were dedicated to a dramatization of the life
of the general, the remaining two to battle scenes. The battle scenes
caused a greater sensation than the dramatization that in the film
ended with Villa as President of Mexico. The critic of The Sun was
impressed by the realism of the images: “All the horrors of war are
37 Journal of Film Preservation / 63 / 2001
El autor analiza el uso y abuso de la imagen
cinematográfica de Francisco “Pancho”
Villa, el célebre guerrillero, tal como se lo
presentaba en los Estados Unidos de
Norteamérica durante la Revolución
mexicana de 1914-1920. Es sabido hoy que
a comienzos de la Revolución, en mayo
1910, los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica
consideraron la posibilidad de propulsar a
Pancho Villa a la Presidencia de México. De
1912 a 1920, más de 80 camarógrafos
americanos, independientes o contratados
por compañías productoras, cubrieron la
Revolución mexicana tomando partido por
los diversos grupos que la protagonizaron.
Tal es así que a partir de marzo 1912, las
noticias de la Revolución fueron difundidas
por Pathe’s Weekly, Animated Weekly y
Mutual Weekly, entre otras.
De los líderes revolucionarios de aquella
época, Pancho Villa era el que mejor supo
manipular las imágenes cinematográficas a
favor de sus objetivos, suscitando el interés
de sus adeptos en México y los Estados
Unidos. Los periodistas americanos
empezaron a interesarse por él después de la
toma de Ciudad Juárez. Impresionados tanto
por el talento de líder como por las
capacidades administrativas de Villa,
numerosos reporteros y camarógrafos se
congregaron en Ciudad Juárez para cubrir
las actividades del “nuevo Napoleón,” del
generoso “Robin Hood mexicano”. Tanto
para los políticos como la administración
americana, Villa era el hombre fuerte y
ejercía suficiente autoridad y control sobre
los grupos revolucionarios. Esto decidió al
presidente de la Mutual Film Corporation a
filmar la Revolución mexicana y enviar un
representante a negociar un convenio con
Francisco Villa. El contrato fue firmado el 3
de febrero de 1914 y estipulaba, en
particular, que la Mutual Film exhibiría las
películas en los territorios liberados por
Villa, en los Estados Unidos y en Canadá;
que en el caso en que no se pudieran obtener
tomas interesantes de batallas, se las
pondría en escena; que no se permitiría a
otras compañías filmar a Villa. Este
recibiría un anticipo de 25,000 $ y
participaría en el 50% de las ganancias. Por
otra parte, Villa se reservaba el derecho de
mostrar las películas a sus hombres,
prometiendo a su vez llevar a cabo las
operaciones de guerra a la luz del día.
La primera acción filmada por la Mutual
fue la toma de Ojinaga el 10 de enero de
1914. La película fue una decepción: Villa
tenia una barba de tres días, no vestía
uniforme digno de un general sino ropa vieja
de civil, y las nubes de polvo no dejaban ver