''The Trooper of Troop K'' is a

Lincoln Motion Picture Company The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was an American film production company founded in 1916 by Noble Johnson and George Perry Johnson. Noble Johnson was president of the company, and the secretary was actor Clarence A. Brooks. Dr. James T. Smith ...

film produced in 1917, directed by Harry A. Gant and starring

Noble Johnson Noble Johnson (April 18, 1881 – January 9, 1978), later known as Mark Noble, was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in films such as '' The Mummy'' (1932), ''The Most Dangerous Game'' (1932), ''King Kong'' (1933) and ''Son of ...

. It was the production company's second film. Set at the

Battle of Carrizal The Battle of Carrizal occurred on June 21, 1916. It was a major skirmish between United States Army troops of General John J. Pershing's Punitive Expedition and Carrancista troops fought at the town of Carrizal in the Mexican state of Chihuahu ...

, the film contains a battle scene with hundreds of extras, depicting African American U.S. soldiers fighting Mexican soldiers. The film originally consisted of 3

reels A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on film, 35 mm is the most commonly used gauge. The name of the gauge is not a direct measurement, and refers to the nominal width o ...

. Most of this is now

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

. The small portion that survives is earliest extant fragment of Black-produced cinema.

Synopsis

Joe (Noble Johnson) is fond of Clara (Beulah Hall) but his inept romantic gestures do not impress her. Jimmy (Jimmie Smith) reacts with disgust to Joe's antics, and competes with Joe to win the affections of Clara. Joe joins the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

because Clara suggests this will help Joe clean up his act. The army captain is delighted by Joe's kind-hearted nature and his skill with horses. Joe and other soldiers are dispatched to Mexico, and fight in the

. The soldiers behave heroically against the superior firing power of Mexican Gatling guns. Joe saves the life of the

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

commanding officer of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. Reading of Joe's heroism in the newspaper, Clara dismisses Jimmie's criticisms of Joe. She welcomes Joe home "with open arms".

Filming and distribution

The battle scene had a cast of 300, including Mexican cowboys and former troopers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry. This was a major undertaking for the young film industry of the time. The film was initially successful; the Lincoln Motion Picture Company created multiple print runs of the film to meet demand. Like most early Black documentaries or docudrama, the film had no means of distribution after its initial run and was largely forgotten.

Rediscovery

''The Trooper of Troop K'' was considered to be a wholly

until 2022, when a 15-second clip was rediscovered embedded within another film by the same company, ''

By Right of Birth The film ''By Right of Birth'' premiered on June 22, 1921, in Los Angeles, California. This film is one of the few surviving films of the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, which is known as the first producer of race films and of such silent fil ...

'' (1921). The rediscovery was possible because a film scholar identified Noble Johnson's face in a brief

iris shot An iris shot is a technique used in silent film and television sometimes to emphasize a detail of a scene above all others, more commonly to end or open a scene. The film camera's iris is slowly closed or opened, so that what is visible on film app ...

inset as a special effect in one corner of the film. Johnson had left the Lincoln Motion Picture Company in 1918, indicating the clip was older than 1921.

References

1917 films American war drama films 1910s American films American silent short films {{1910s-US-film-stub