Producer Thomas Ince was inspired by President Woodrow Wilson pledge to "keep us out of war" during the first couple of years of World War One when he accepted Charles Sullivan's script on universal peace. Ince directed Sullivan's screenplay into one of cinema's first antiwar films, June 1916's "Civilization."
The bare outline of the high-budgeted and sprawling movie focuses in on a German submarine commander who refuses to sink a liner carrying both civilian passengers and munitions despite orders to do so. The Count gets a quick trip to heaven after he blew up his sub, where Jesus sends him back to earth with a message to change the king and his countrymen's mind to stop the war and spread peace throughout the world.
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee claims "Civilization" was a huge asset to Wilson's re-election victory over Republican Charles Hughes in the fall of 1916 on the incumbent's anti-war platform. Because of the film's successful and popular showing, "Civilization" is seen as the first movie to influence voters in a presidential election.
Ince, ever the publicity seeker, paid actress Billy Burke, who was just beginning in film, to pretend to faint in the audience during "Civilization's" showing in a major city's theater. A husband whose wife died as an extra during the movie's production, and who didn't have a photograph of her, was reportedly attending every showing of "Civilization" to see his late wife on the screen. He must have been disappointed when the movie was withdrawn from public viewing as soon as Wilson and Congress had declared war on Germany and its allies the following April 1917.
Another lasting effect "Civilization" had was on young Yasujiro Ozu, who was drawn to its story and its cinematography, and encouraged him to be involved in movies. Ozu would become one of Japan's most heralded directors in the 1950's, with his "Tokyo Story" voted in some polls as the greatest movie ever made.
