The Life of General Villa

The Life of General Villa 1914 was a silent biographical actiondrama film starring Pancho Villa as himself, shot on location during a civil war. The movie incorporated both staged scenes and authentic live footage from real battles during the Mexican Revolution, around which the plot of the movie revolved.

Pancho Villas reason for starring in the movie was financial as he needed funds to fight the Mexican Revolution. He eventually signed a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation where he received a 25,000 advance and was promised 50 of the profits from the film for agreeing to let the company shoot his battles in daylight, and for reenacting them if more footage was needed. The contract resides in a museum in Mexico City at the Archivo Federico Gonzalez Garza, folio 3057.The following year, Walsh played John Wilkes Booth in Griffiths epic The Birth of a Nation and directed the first gangster movie, Regeneration, on location in the Bowery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. ........

Source: Wikipedia