Vintage original 7 x 11 in. single-weight glossy publicity photograph from the teens WWI-themed documentary, HEROIC FRANCE, produced in 1917 by the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Co.
 
The image depicts a candid exterior shot of the famous French boxer and aviator, Georges Carpentier, wearing a pilot's uniform as he stands next to a vintage biplane. It is in good- condition.
 
Filmed by American cinematographer Merl la Voy with the French forces in 1916 on the battlefields of the Somme and Verdun and incorporated footage originally released by the Mutual Film Corporation in the United States in June 1917. 
 
*"Photojournalist Merl La Voy began work on the film in 1915, according to articles in the 7 July 1917 Motography, the September 1917 Picture-Play,and the 7 May 1927 Moving Picture World. He first landed in London, England, hoping to obtain footage of British officials and the royal family. After several failed attempts, La Voy had himself arrested on a minor infraction and took his plight to the head of Scotland Yard, who was amused by the photographer’s tenacity.
 
Having completed his work in England, La Voy then obtained permission from the American Relief Clearance House in Paris, France, to document the French Army in the defense of its country. The resulting eight-reel picture was comprised of footage gathered over a period of twenty-two months. Various sources have stated that a large percentage of the proceeds were diverted to the American Relief Clearing House for the benefit of wounded soldiers. An advertisement in the 21 April 1917 Moving Picture World indicated that the film was initially released to the states’ rights market through the Heroic France Film Syndicate, based in Chicago, IL. By July 1917, the release had been taken over by Mutual Film Corp. A review in the 23 June 1917 Moving Picture World stated that the documentary was “contributed by Rothacker” to Mutual; Gaumont was listed as the production company in the 28 July 1917 Motography."
*(source: AFI Catalog of Feature Films)
 
*"Merl La Voy was an American pioneer documentary filmmaker, photographer and world traveler. He was probably best remembered by 1920s and 30s movie goers for his South Seas Islands documentaries and as a cameraman for Pathé News.

Not long after purchasing his first movie camera, La Voy traveled to Europe to cover the First World War. His film, Heroic France (1917), brought the horrors of war home to American film audiences. After the war he worked for a period of time for the International Red Cross. Later while covering an uprising in China, his wit and quick thinking saved him from being executed by a firing squad after being mistaken for a Russian mercenary. For much of his life, La Voy and his camera lens traveled the four corners of the world, earning him the title bestowed upon him by the press, "The Modern Marco Polo".

In 1932 La Voy, who had been a member of the 1912 Parker-Browne Expedition that nearly conquered Mount McKinley, and Andrew Taylor, a well known Alaskan photographer, led a group that recovered the frozen remains of scientist Theodore G. Koven from the mouth of the Muldrow Glacier on Mount McKinley. Koven, a member of the Carpe Mount McKinley Expedition, had perished the previous year after he and the expedition's leader, Allen Carpe, fell into a crevasse. La Voy's group discovered that Koven had survived the fall and had managed to crawl out of the crevasse, only to eventually freeze to death. Allen Carpe had apparently fallen much deeper into the abyss, for his body was never found. Merl La Voy died in Johannesburg, South Africa on 6 December, 1953."
*(source: IMDb)
 
3RB