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The Burning Question, the 1919 silent World War I (WWI) anti-Bolshevik romantic melodrama ("A super feature photoplay!"; "Pulsating with heart interest."; about a girl and her brother, and how they get mixed up with Bolsheviks before, during, and after World War I) starring Father Kelly ("Chaplain in Chief of The American Legion and Staff Chaplain of the 27th Division"), Inez Ranous, Ida Edgington, May Kitson, and Gilbert Rooney. Note that this movie is an attack on Bolshevism, which was the forerunner of Communism, and after its success in Russia, it started to spread to the rest of the world, and there was a movement in America which greatly troubled many Americans, and several movies like this were made, designed to "expose" what they saw as an evil movement. Note that a real life American Legion Chaplain, Father Kelly, had a supporting role in this movie (playing himself), and he was given great billing on one of the two posters for the movie we have ever seen, but oddly, the director is not billed, while the producer, O.E. Goebel is billed on both posters above the title (as "Producer of The Victim and The Transgressor"), and even more oddly, we could not locate the director anywhere on the Internet! Finally, note that there was a 1936 movie released as "The Burning Question", but it is better known as "Reefer Madness", and of course, that movie has no connection to this movie! AND Hearst-Selig News Pictorial No. 70, the 1915 newsreel poster ("The world before your eyes"; "Subject to change without notice should important events warrant it."). Note that this newsreel included stories about German reinforcements in France during World War I, a girl who swam nine miles, a sailing race, an Army and Navy mock battle, and more!

If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know.

Important Added Info: In addition to being placed on linen after it was made (see below), there is something VERY unusual about this poster! Apparently, they didn't want to "waste" linen they had used before, so they glued this entire poster on top of an existing poster which had already been placed on linen, so that they wouldn't need to use a new piece of linen! By holding the poster to a bright light, we can see that it is a text-only "Hearst Newsreel" poster, and the headline is something about "Send More Army to Relieve German Troops on the Western Battle Front". Any restorer could fairly easily remove the poster "on top" and remove the linen from the newsreel poster on bottom, and the high bidder on this auction will have "two posters for the price of one", but of course, they must bear in mind the cost of this restoration (but both posters are likely "one of a kind"). Note that this poster was "linenbacked", but not in the modern sense! The poster was placed on to a linen backing shortly after being printed (this was a common practice in the mid-1910s; in the later 1910s and 1920s they switched to using a kraftpaper backing). The purpose was to reinforce them, so that they would survive, when they were passed from theater to theater, and when they were put up on walls and taken down. Even though the poster was folded (linen and poster together!), the poster has not deteriorated very much, so the linen "did its job" and helped the poster survive, because it would likely be in much worse condition had it not been backed! Also note that this poster has been trimmed and it now measures 26 3/4" x 39 1/2" [68 x 100 cm].

UPDATED 09/13/2016: Note that this auction was originally for The Burning Question poster, and we noted that it was mounted on top of a newsreel poster. The person who bought this item had the two posters separated and restored the newsreel poster, and he has kindly allowed us to post it here (and we have changed the title of the auction to reflect the two posters so that people searching for either poster will find them).

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