The Last of the Saxons
| The Last of the Saxons | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | J. Stuart Blackton |
| Written by | J. Stuart Blackton |
| Starring | James Young Clara Kimball Young |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | General Film Company |
Release date |
|
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent |
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The Last of the Saxons (“The Last of the Saxons”) is an American film directed by J. Stuart Blackton, released in 1910.
This film is one of the first to address the Norman conquest of England and the fall of the Saxon dynasty, a subject rarely dealt with in cinema at the time.
It follows in the tradition of early 20th-century silent historical films produced by Vitagraph, one of the largest American studios of the era.
This silent, black-and-white film (now considered lost) depicts Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king of England.[1]
Plot
By way of introduction: Harold, Duke of Wessex, second son of the powerful Earl of Godwine. He laid claim to the throne of England after the death of King Edward the Confessor in the year 1066 and succeeded to the kingdom. ‘William the Conqueror,’ the son of the Duke of Normandy, came to England, defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings, in which Harold was killed, and William took possession of England and was raised to the throne at Westminster on Christmas Day, 1066. This ornate and magnificent picture, ‘The Last of the Saxons,’ has to do with the betrothal of Harold to Lady Edith, one of the court attached. This occurred when he was the ‘Duke of Wessex.’ After the death of King Edward and Harold’s selection as ruler of the kingdom, he was obliged to break troth with Edith in order to sustain his relations with Edwin and Mocar and stand in with his allies. Therefore, he married the Princess Aldyth, although he did not love her and always kept in communication with Edith, who was as much in love with him as he with her, as is evidenced at the gorgeous and elaborate marriage ceremony at Westminster, where Edith is seen mournfully witnessing the wedding of her rival to her love, the King. Then, again, when she bids him farewell, just before he starts for the Battle of Hastings, and finally when she searches among the dead after the fatal encounter with William, finds the body of Harold, and expires of a broken heart when she discovers it.[2][3]
Genesis and production
In the months leading up to its release, Vitagraph gave The Last of the Saxons an assertive publicity push. A full-page feature about the film’s making—illustrated with two photographs—appeared in the Film Index on September 10, 1910. Less than a month later, on October 8, 1910, the same journal carried a full-page advertisement with a large production still and a concise synopsis, signaling the studio’s confidence in the picture and priming audiences for an ambitious historical spectacle.
Staging History: From Page to Set
The production aspired to recreate the drama surrounding Harold, Duke of Wessex, and the turbulent year of 1066. Director A. E. Smith marshaled the studio’s resources to stage scenes of royal ceremony and battlefield tumult with unusual scale for the period. The cathedral wedding—where Harold marries Aldyth—was designed to impress through sheer depth and detail. The camera gazed down a long nave toward the chancel, with the altar clearly visible and a bishop leading a processional that lent the sequence both grandeur and emotional weight. To achieve this, Vitagraph filled the set with an exceptionally large congregation. Every available employee, neighbor, and extra was pressed into service, transforming the studio into a teeming medieval assembly.
Training the Charge: Horses, Armor, and Arrows
The Battle of Hastings demanded choreography that silent-era filmmaking rarely attempted. A large number of horses were required to sell the illusion of a Norman onslaught and a Saxon stand. Many of the animals were seasoned, but they were not used to armored riders in heavy, heraldic trappings, nor to the spectacle of arrows flying past them. Before cameras rolled, the wranglers rehearsed charges and drilled carefully marked paths so the riders would stay within the frame. On set, the momentum proved convincing enough that actors felt the unpredictable energy of the charge as the horses surged forward. Falls were staged for riders “shot” in action, and some tumbles looked altogether too real, prompting wry visits from the studio’s makeshift “ambulance corps” after takes. Even Harold’s fatal moment—felled by an arrow in the heart—was captured with such immediacy that the performer prudently stayed still until the final hoofbeats had cleared the frame.
Studio Spirit and Costume Play
The production also doubled as a spirited studio pageant. Smith turned colleagues into nobles at a moment’s notice, knighting clerks and crowning technicians with medieval titles as the cathedral crowd swelled. Members of the manuscript and negative departments donned wigs, robes, and tunics, occasionally clashing modern habits with period dress, yet blending into the throng once the camera rolled. The result was a communal effort that fused serious craft with a streak of self-aware humor—an early example of a studio mobilizing its entire ecosystem to achieve scale.
First Impressions: Reception in October 1910
When The Moving Picture World reviewed the film on October 22, 1910, it praised the scale and care of the production. The review framed the narrative around Harold’s rise to the English throne in 1066, his politically compelled marriage to Princess Aldyth, and the enduring bond with Lady Edith, who bids him farewell before Hastings and later searches the battlefield for his body. While the reviewer hedged on strict historical accuracy, the film’s costuming, staging, and ceremonial detail were commended for conveying the texture of the era more vividly than pages of text could manage. In that judgment lay the film’s achievement: a vivid, emotionally legible spectacle that used the visual grammar of early cinema to make medieval history feel immediate and alive.[4]
Production details
- Original title: The Last of the Saxons
- Director: J. Stuart Blackton
- Screenplay: J. Stuart Blackton
- Production company: Vitagraph Company of America
- Distributor: General Film Company
- Country of production: United States
- Language: English (silent)
- Format: Black and white – 1.33:1 – 35 mm – Silent
- Film length: 306 m (1 reel)
- Year: 1910
- Release date:
- United States: October 10, 1910
Cast
- James Young as Harold
- Clara Kimball Young as Aldyth
Notes and references
- ↑ The Vikings on film : essays on depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages. Internet Archive. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland. 2011. ISBN 978-0-7864-6044-1. Search this book on
- ↑ "The Short Films of Clara Kimball Young, 1909-1912: Reviews". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-08.
- ↑ Chalmers Publishing Company (1910). Moving Picture World (July-Dec 1910). New York The Museum of Modern Art Library. New York, Chalmers Publishing Company. Search this book on
- ↑ "AFI|Catalog". Catalog AFI - The Last of the Saxons. Retrieved 2025-10-08.
See also
Further reading
- Kevin J. Harty, The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages, McFarland, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7864-6044-1, 978-0-7864-8638-0 Search this book on .
External links
- The Last of the Saxons on IMDb Search this movie on
- The Last of the Saxons at Silent Era
- The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages (review) at ResearchGate
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