AustLit

Advertised in local newspapers under the heading 'Lectures, Sermons, &', Heroes of the Cross was, like its predecessor, Soldiers of the Cross, a film produced by and largely for the Salvation Army. Advertisements indicated that it was 'Beautiful still pictures and thousands of feet of film, depicting the struggles and persecutions of the early Christians' (see image). Screenings also included an orchestra and singing.

A contemporary review noted:

The congress of Salvation Army delegates was inaugurated this evening by a display at the Town Hall of a series of moving pictures, entitled "Heroes of the Cross," and illustrating chiefly the persecution and martyrdom of the early Christians. The pictures, which had been locally produced by the Army, were of a realistic character, and made a profound impression on the audience, mostly composed of Salvationists, who thronged the building. The introduction of lions, which bounded about as if in high glee at the anticipation of a meal about to be made on Christian flesh, constituted a rather startling feature of one of the pictures.

Source:

'Salvation Army Congress', Geelong Advertiser, 12 May 1909, p.3.

Sometimes called the world's first feature-length film, Soldiers of the Cross was more a multimedia presentation: a two-hour lecture, accompanied by songs and '220 limelight pictures and 17 cinematographe views' ('Town Talk', Geelong Advertiser, 4 October 1900, p.2). Other advertisements suggest it was 200 limelight pictures and 15 film segments.

Despite not being exclusively a film, Soldiers of the Cross was a significant early step in Australian film-making: the seventeen film segments (each ninety seconds long) were filmed exclusively for this production, using as cast members up to 150 members of the Salvation Army.

Soldiers of the Cross was usually billed as a lecture, but advertisements and reviews made much of the 'cinematographe' / 'kinematographe'.

The scenes showed the various martyrdoms of Christian saints. Contemporary reviews noted that 'Some of the films are wonderfully realistic, such as the stoning of Stephen, burning of Polycarp, throwing Christians to the tigers, and also the slaughter of the Christians in the Catacombs' ([Untitled], Daily Telegraph, 14 January 1901, p.2).

When creator Herbert Booth later left the Salvation Army, he negotiated to keep Soldiers of the Cross, and later toured it around the United States.