Salvation Army Filmography

Salvationist Rob Brettle has two main areas of research, one is locating all UK Salvation Army halls – past and present, and the other is Salvation Army filmography. Since he started researching the latter, Rob has catalogued over 200 examples and there will be a detailed article in Blood and Fire.

It has been suggested that the Salvation Army produced the world’s first feature film in Soldiers of the Cross. This film (if it can be really called that) premiered in Melbourne, Australia in September 1900. It was written by William Booth’s son, Commandant Herbert Booth and produced by Major Joseph Perry. The Major was head of the Limelight Department, a tremendously innovative film making unit using cutting edge technology for the making of films related both to the Salvation Army and current events.

It is a reflection of the fact that the Salvation Army registers so strongly in the public consciousness that film and television writers and producers across the world have used its image throughout the last hundred years or so. Some examples of the sometimes fleeting glances or references are: Out West (1918) when a Salvation Army girl becomes the subject of Buster Keaton’s attentions; American Gigolo (1980) when Richard Gere’s character receives an appeal letter from the Salvation Army; Austin Powers I (1997) and II (1999) where one of the characters is head of the military wing of the Salvation Army; and Calendar Girls (2003) where the Commanding Officer of Keighley Corps appears with a collecting tin. 

More detailed attention to the Salvation Army appears in such films as The Angel of Broadway (1927) where, in order to research a role in a musical, a beautiful actress dresses as a Salvationist lass and works for them, much to the upset of her sweetheart; The Belle of New York (1919 and 1952) where a leading character joins the Salvation Army; Blod Och Eld (1945) a Swedish film centering on the work and subsequent doubts of a young Salvation Army officer; Hell’s Oasis (1920) where Salvation Army pioneers in the Old West are attacked by outlaws and rescued by a cowboy who takes them to a town that is not altogether welcoming of their evangelism!

Many different themes are explored by film makers using the Salvation Army and the Booth family themselves were happy to exploit this medium. General Booth (1902) shows the Founder in New York; and Fires of Faith (1919) looks at the war work of the Salvation Army in France in World War One. In the latter film the role of Evangeline Booth is played by herself. 

Social and moral issues often centre on the Salvation Army for example in A Little Miracle (1990) where a Salvation Army officer is trying to save an Army homeless shelter from being torn down and developed at Christmas by a greedy businessman. The most obvious example though must be Major Barbara (1941). Comedy is apparent in such films as Heaven’s Above (1963) where the Orbeston Parva corps (complete with flag) march into the crowd and the marvellous Ian Wilson plays the Salvation Army Major. Shout Aloud Salvation (1951) was a BBC television film about a pair of young Salvation Army girls trying to convert the residents of a northern town.