Vintage original 11 x 14 in. US lobby card from the teens dramatic war biopic, OVER THE TOP, released in 1918 by the Vitagraph Company of America and directed by Wilfrid North.
The image is silent film drama at its best and depicts Sergeant James Garrison "Garry" Owen (Sgt. Arthur Guy Empey) crouching atop a dining table in "A Death Struggle with a Champion of German "Kultur"! It is unrestored in very fine- condition.
*"Over the Top is a 1918 American silent war film directed by Wilfrid North and starring Arthur Guy Empey, Lois Meredith and James W. Morrison. The film is based on a book of the same name by Empey, detailing his service as an American volunteer with the British Army on the Western Front. Location shooting for the trench scenes took place at Camp Wheeler in Georgia. President Woodrow Wilson attended the Washington premiere along with his wife and a number of cabinet members."
*(source: Wikipedia)
*"The trench scenes were filmed at Camp Wheeler, a US Army training camp in Macon, GA. Arthur Guy Empey was a well-known soldier, writer, and lecturer of the period. Robert Gordon Anderson, who wrote the scenario, was Empey's publishing advisor. The film had its premiere in New York on March 31, 1918 and was the last film of Mary Maurice, who was affectionately known as "Mother" Maurice, who died on April 31, 1918.
After the sinking of the Lusitania, American James Garrison "Garry" Owen joins the British army and fights gallantly until he is wounded and subsequently discharged. Recuperating in New York, he meets and falls in love with Helen Lloyd, and the two plan to be married after his return from active duty with the American forces in France. Helen's brother Albert, fighting in France under Garry's command, panics and deserts his post, whereupon Garry is forced to report him. At the court-martial, Albert is sentenced to death, but when Company D is attacked, his heroic actions save the day and he dies a hero. Meanwhile, Helen is abducted by German officer Friederich von Emden, whose submarine transports her to his headquarters, Madame Arnot's chateau in Belgium. Von Emden captures Garry and orders him to attend a banquet celebrating the German's forced marriage to Helen, but an old servant named Sonia poisons most of the German guests. Garry kills von Emden and then escapes with Helen to the Allied lines."
*(source: AFI Catalog of Feature Films)
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