Mormon characters — for good or ill . . . mostly ill . . . have been staples in the movies for just about as long as movies have existed.

Occasionally those depictions have been favorable, especially during Hollywood's censorship era between 1934 and the early 1960s.

During this period, Mormons were most often seen in Western movies and, during the 1950s and '60s, on the enormously popular Western TV shows that ruled the airwaves.

And they were most often portrayed as stoic pioneers.

Actually, it's more common — even today — to see people of the LDS faith portrayed as stock villains, wackos or punchlines.

If you'd like to see the evidence of any or all of those stereotypes, Brigham Young University is going to give you the opportunity.

The university's latest film series is "Mormonism in the Movies: The First 100 Years," and it kicks off tonight with the two-minute 1905 Thomas Edison short, "A Trip to Salt Lake City," likely the first use of Mormons as movie characters.

The short is set aboard a train, a Pullman sleeping car, where a polygamist comes up with an ingenious way to get drinks of water to his many children.

Of course, polygamy had been outlawed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 15 years by the time Edison's film was shown, which indicates that even in its infancy the motion-picture industry wasn't going to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

"A Trip to Salt Lake City" — the film that validates the "100 Years" in the BYU series title — is a cute piece of whimsy and a nice introduction to the series. But it is actually just the appetizer for tonight's real drawing card — the notorious 1922 British silent feature "Trapped By the Mormons."

Once a thorn in the side of LDS missionaries in England, the film is now something of a camp classic, a hilariously over-the-top portrayal of "evil" Mormons who spirit innocent young women away to become polygamous wives in Salt Lake City.

Even the central character, the unctuous, duplicitous Isoldi Keene — who smokes and drinks and fakes a "resurrection" — has an extra layer of nastiness, courtesy of the camera's iris lens, which closes in on his dark eyes, purposely invoking a vampire-like persona.

Trust me. It's a hoot.

The films will be introduced by James D'Arc, who is in charge of BYU's special collections and is an expert in the area of movies made about Mormons.

In two weeks, on Oct. 28, the series will continue with a more Mormon-friendly film, the 1940 epic "Brigham Young," starring Dean Jagger in the title role, and Vincent Price as Joseph Smith. D'Arc will also introduce that one, and no one is better informed about this picture. (D'Arc provided the audio commentary for the film's DVD release.)