Watching: Changing the Flag at Puerto Rico

Overview

A staged actuality attributed to the Biograph Company, produced during the Spanish–American War. The film depicts a Jack Tar climbing a mast in Puerto Rico, tearing down the Spanish flag, and replacing it with the American Stars and Stripes. Contemporary accounts note that such scenes brought U.S. audiences to their feet in patriotic fervor, serving as powerful wartime propaganda. The film is generally considered lost, with its existence recorded in writings by Erik Barnouw and other historians of early cinema.