Mormon Film History
The First Wave (1905-1929): The Evil Mormons
o
A Trip to
Salt Lake City (1905) about a polygamist and his family on a trainbound for
SLC
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A Mormon
Maid (1917), the heroine is held captive by the Danites
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First Movie Theatre appears in SLC in 1905 and
then Ogden in 1907
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By 1921, 30,000 people a day attended movies in
SLC
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Chester and Shirl Clawson, the first Mormon Film
Makers; by the 1920s many Mormon actors were heading to Hollywood
The Second Wave (1929-1953): “Home Cinema”
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1929—the movie Corianton, a Book of Mormon Epic
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Pageant—“Message of the Ages”
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1939—KBYU TV is created under the direction of
Heber J. Grant
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1946—Harold B. Lee, Mark E. Peterson, and
Matthew Cowley tour Disney Studios; they are hosted by a young LDs animator
named Wetzel “Judge” Whitaker. The result was the production of two films, Welfare in Action, and the Lord’s Way
o
1947—70 minutes film “Where the Saints have Trod”
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1950s—Church begins work on the first video
version of the temple ceremony
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1950s—LDS Motion Picture Studio in conjuction
with BYU
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Brigham Young (1940, 20th Century
Fox, Dean Jagger as Brigham Young, Tyrone Powers)
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Wagon Master (1950)
The Third Wave (1953-1974): Judge Whitaker and the Classical Era
o
Windows of
Heaven (1963), Pioneers in Petticoats
(1969), Johnny Lingo, The Lost Manuscript (1974), Man’s Search For Happiness (1964 World’s
Fair, by the BYU Motion Picture Studio)
o
Keith Merrill’s The Great American Cowboy (1973)
o
Where the
Red Fern Grows (1974) Lynn Dayton
o
Mormon “characters” in TV and in Movies—still
lots of “polygamy” themes
The Fourth Wave (1974-2000): The Mass Media Era
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An explosion of Church produced films and the
first making of The First Vision (1976)
o
Church musicals—Saturday’s Warrior, My Turn on
Earth, the Best Two Years (of my life)
o
Like Unto Us, Tom Trails
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City of Joseph, 1976
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Testaments, Legacy, The Mountain House of the
Lord
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1976—ALMA—Associated Latter-day Media Artists
was established
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1981—The Sundance Film Institute, Redford with
Sterling Van Wagenen (originally screened at BYU Motion Picture Studio)
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Don Bluth: An American Tail (1986), the Land
Before Time (1988)
The Fifth Wave (2000 to present): Cultural and Commercial Viability
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The rise of independent LDS filmmakers producing
films for broader theatrical release
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Dutcher’s God’s Army (March 2000)
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The Other Side of Heaven (Disney, 2001)
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LDS Film Festival founded in 2001
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Brigham City (2001)
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The Singles Ward (2002)
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Charly (2002)
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Handcart (2002)
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The RM (2003)
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The Best Two Years (2004)
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Saints and Soldiers (2004)
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The Work and the Glory (2004)
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