It's the French Revolution and the aristocrats face the guillotine; one loyal wife is willing to purchase her family's lives by marrying -- the details are vague here -- one of the leaders of the rabble. Her father -- or perhaps her husband -- forbids her. The whole thing is mooted when the revolutionary is stabbed by his girl friend and the Aristos go to their deaths like they are dancing a quadrille.
It's Carlyle's history of the Terror as interpreted by the Baroness Orczy or perhaps Elinor Glyn: piffle, just like a lot of historical dramas. However, it's fairly spectacular film making, with Vitagraph, as usual, throwing everyone on the lot into the production, and pulling all sorts of great costumes out of storage. In addition, the crowd scenes fill the screen with people, and are handled just as well as, or perhaps better than Griffith could have done them at Biograph. The result is a very watchable film for 1912.
It's Carlyle's history of the Terror as interpreted by the Baroness Orczy or perhaps Elinor Glyn: piffle, just like a lot of historical dramas. However, it's fairly spectacular film making, with Vitagraph, as usual, throwing everyone on the lot into the production, and pulling all sorts of great costumes out of storage. In addition, the crowd scenes fill the screen with people, and are handled just as well as, or perhaps better than Griffith could have done them at Biograph. The result is a very watchable film for 1912.
