The Baldknobbers in Missouri (lost silent film, 1913)

Film still from promotional postcard.

Status: Lost

Tags: Lost films

The Baldknobbers in Missouri is a 1913 silent vigilante crime film produced by The Bee-Hive Film Company. The film was the venture of businessmen Gus Bennert and William Harrington. The story follows a depiction of the titular Bald Knobbers exacting their brand of vigilante “justice” on the unsuspecting citizens of Southwest Missouri with the authorities eventually apprehending the outlaws and hanging them.

Background The film is based off a real group of vigilantes founded in Taney County, Missouri by Nat Kinny in 1885 to combat what they saw as rampant corruption in their county government. The blatant corruption that the group despised was the packing of juries with friends and family that allowed easy won cases for the defendants. Their tactics would soon spread to neighboring communities including Christian County, Missouri where that group would adopt masks meant to imitate devils. These masks would be how the group would come to be depicted in popular media. The fall of the Bald Knobbers would come with a series of arrets and subsequent hangings in Christian County in 1889.

Author Harold Bell Wright would use Southwest Missouri as the setting of his 1907 novel, The Shepherd of the Hills. Wright would use the Bald Knobbers as antagonists for his novel. It is said the Wright was the first American author sell a million copies of a novel and the first to make $1 million from writing fiction. This popularity and national interest catapulted the Bald Knobbers into the public consciousness.

Production The production was able to shoot in many locations relating directly to the actual Bald Knobbers including Forsyth, Sparta, and Oldfield, Missouri. The production was also able to recreate two of the 1889 hangings on the county square in Christian County. Reportedly the production was also able to recruit several actual Bald Knobbers to serve as actors.

Reception Gus Bennert owned the Gem Theater, Grand Theater, and possibly had an investment in the Jefferson (Jewell) Theater in Springfield, Missouri. When the film premiered in June 1913 screenings were likely held at these theaters. After a few days of screening, the local citizens came out in protest of the film declaring it “immoral, vicious, and depraved tendencies”. The outcry likely stemmed from the depictions of hangings.

The backlash resulted in local authorities issuing a restraining order against Bennert and his eventual arrest. The pressure from the community resulted in the film being pulled from any further showings.

Availability The only known images from the film come from promotional postcards that were printed with stills from the film on the backs. Around 10 distinct postcards are known to exist. The likelihood of a surviving print of the film being found is unlikely due to the combination of the films limited distribution and the dislike of the film by the general public.