‘Alamo’ series of movies often not worth ticket price

Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo,” the third motion picture in the series, opened at theaters across Texas on Aug. 22, 1926.

The first Alamo movie was made during the early days of silent pictures back in 1911, just eight years after “The Great Train Robbery.”  “The Immortal Alamo” was a 15-minute one-reeler and the initial American effort of a famous French filmmaker’s brother.  

Gaston Melies deserves credit for at least shooting his movie on location, a sulphur springs resort called the Hot Wells Hotel outside San Antonio.  Since no copy of “The Immortal Alamo” has survived – only a few still photos – the plot is a mystery.