THE GIRL SPY BEFORE VICKSBURG (Sidney Olcott, USA, 1910, 5)

Hurt by comparison with THE RED GIRL AND THE CHILD, another raid-and-chase movie that I saw back-to-back on the same program. That film had a physicality and a presence that felt convincing, while this one feels more like a dress pageant (the subject matter is a sabotage attack on a Union gunpowder stock by a Confederate commander’s daughter). I could not unsee that every “interior” scene was obviously shot out of doors. Not only is there no lighting difference the several times you see a door open to the “outside,” you even shadows and wind when the doors are closed, FFS.

Nevertheless, this film had a better moment than anything in RED GIRL and probably the highlight of the whole “Nasty Women” program, and it’s...