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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 534

Civilization

191688 minUnited States
Drama
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
86:35
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

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Synopsis

A submarine commander refuses an order to torpedo a civilian liner suspected of carrying munitions. His resistance leads to catastrophe and an encounter with a spiritual power that sends him back as a messenger of peace. The kingdom's enthusiasm for war is then challenged through the suffering hidden behind its military ambitions.

Cast

DirectorsReginald BarkerThomas H. InceRaymond B. West

Historical context

Produced before American entry into the First World War, Thomas H. Ince's spectacle expresses an explicitly pacifist argument through Christian allegory. The civilian ship and submarine warfare connect its invented kingdom to urgent contemporary debates.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceDuke Center for the Study of the Public Domain — US term reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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