Our apologies for being a tad late in alerting you to films set against a World War I background on Turner Classics this month.  You have possibly missed Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1932) this past Sunday.

There are still three other films to be seen this month.  First up (and times are Central):

–King of Hearts (1967).  TCM describes this as a Scottish soldier finds an abandoned town ruled by whimsical lunatics.  If you want a little more meat on the description, IMDB.com describes it as a soldier being sent into a town to defuse a bomb, but Germans chase him into an insane asylum before he can complete the job.  Sounds like a comedy.  Stars Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold.  Airs at 5:00 a.m. Friday, September 14.

–The Love Light (1921).  One can always count on TCM’s “Silent Sunday Nights” to give us some of the earliest WWI films.  This stars Mary Pickford who, again as TCM describes it, fights between her love for a German spy and her sense of patriotism.  It airs at 11:00 a.m. Sunday, September 23.

–Rasputin and the Empress (1932).  You can probably guess the approximate plot, and this one’s a treat for the movie buffs as it is the only film that the Barrymore siblings–John, Ethel, and Lionel–starred in together.  Airs at 5:00 a.m. Sunday, September 30.

If we missed any WWI films, please let us know.

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.