CUSTER'S LAST FIGHT" "THE BATTLE OF NO SURVIVORS

Sioux City: Thomas H. Ince Productions, ND., ND.. First edition. Original Movie Broadside. 8.125"x22" Printed on newsprint-type paper. Two-sided promotional poster. As advertised: On The Screen In Its Full Glory! The Big, New, And Only Original Spectacle Of The Battle Of The Little Big Horn. America's Old-Time West Lives Again. Many nice illustrations. A scarce poster advertising the re-release of Thomas H. Ince's famed western, "Custer’s Last Fight." Originally released in 1912 and directed by Francis Ford, the older brother of John Ford, the film was re-released in 1926 to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Ford not only directed the two-reeler, but also starred in it as Custer, supported by, among others, the Native American actor, William Eagle Shirt, as Sitting Bull. "Custer’s Last Fight" was one of the earliest and most important Westerns based on an actual historical event, and is also noteworthy for its even-handed treatment of Native Americans. The poster praises the film's authenticity, promising that the viewer will be transported back in time to the event itself, and that the film was "reproduced on the exact location the battle was fought - with the cooperation of the U.S. Army" (it was actually filmed in southern California). The broadsheet contains actual photographs of Custer, Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, as well as a picture of Indians performing the Ghost Dance. Two .75" closed tears to blank margin, else an exceptionally nice copy of a fragile broadside.