Brigham Young University’s Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series will present a new series, “Mormonism in the Movies: The First 100 Years,” beginning Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. with the showing of the 1922 British silent film “Trapped by the Mormons” in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Children age 8 and older are welcome.
“Trapped by the Mormons” was adapted from “Love Story of a Mormon,” a popular novel by British writer Winifred Graham Cory published in 1911. The film follows Mormon missionary Isoldi Keene, who uses his "mesmeric powers" to lure women into the Mormon ranks.
“By the time the movies adapted Mrs. Cory’s book, there had been years of anti-Mormon sentiment in Great Britain,” said James D’Arc, curator of the Motion Picture Archives, who will introduce the film.
The 1905 Thomas Edison short, “A Trip to Salt Lake City,” will precede the film.
The series on Mormons in the movies will continue with two more film showings before the end of the year. The 1940 20th Century-Fox epic “Brigham Young” will be shown Friday, Oct. 28, and the series will conclude with John Ford’s “Wagon Master” on Friday, Nov. 18.
The series is co-sponsored by the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Friends of the Harold B. Lee Library and Dennis and Linda Gibson.
A complete season schedule for the Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series is available online at sc.lib.byu.edu.
For more information, contact James D’Arc at (801) 422-6371.
Writer: Brian Rust
