During the Spanish-American War, Mormons made up almost an entire company of the famous Rough Riders. But they never made an appearance with Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba. Why was that? When the United States declared war on Spain in 1898, Mormons were still villainized as a cloistered, theocratic, patriarchal sect—anti-democratic and opposed to the fundamental …
“Every member a missionary.” You’ve probably heard this phrase more times than you can count. But what you probably don’t know is that it has its roots in the silent films Trapped by the Mormons and Married to a Mormon. Winifred Graham was one of the most ardent anti-Mormons in Britain. She had written two …
When I saw the list of the 2022 Academy Awards’ Best Picture nominees, I thought, “Which of these movies would be most useful to Mormons?” And the answer I came up with was Tár. Which seemed strange. After all, we had Avatar: The Way of Water, a movie about a family—and Mormons love families! We …
By Randy Astle Randy Astle is a writer and filmmaker in New York City. He has written numerous articles, and is nearly finished with a book on Mormon film. A TRIP TO SALT LAKE CITY Released during the Smoot Senate hearing, A Trip to Salt Lake City (1905) was both the first Mormon fiction …
Reviewed by Stephen Carter The Cokeville Miracle and Freetown are fascinating glimpses into how Mormons approach faith-promoting stories, and how those stories interact with the core message of the gospel. The Cokeville Miracle If you haven’t heard about the Cokeville miracle: in 1986, David and Doris Young (played by Nathan Stevens and Kym Mellen, repectively) …
