One of the other reviewers made this movie out to be an old-fashioned movie too timid to deal with its adult topics: rape, sexism, and trauma. I found this rather unfair. While the movie shies away from showing the violation of the heroine, I do not think the attack is as vague as this one reviewer would have you believe. The movie is clear about what happened to the woman and it is shockingly modern in how much agency it gives her in the aftermath. She does not let a man avenge her honor nor does she wallow and weep when her husband rejects her after she reveals what occurred. Realizing his love is not true, she leaves him and lives her own life.
And guess what? Her life is shown as being fulfilling and happy apart from the domestic life! She's a popular stage star, independent and not at all yearning for him because she's moved on. I'm sorry, but that is incredibly forward-thinking for the Edwardian era, and I cannot agree that this is stodgy stuff.
For the early 1910s, the acting is actually quite subdued, especially compared to something like a Griffith two-reeler. The cinematography, on the other hand, is mostly static as most films of this period are, though there is one tracking shot in there. The compositions as divine per usual on a Bauer project.
And guess what? Her life is shown as being fulfilling and happy apart from the domestic life! She's a popular stage star, independent and not at all yearning for him because she's moved on. I'm sorry, but that is incredibly forward-thinking for the Edwardian era, and I cannot agree that this is stodgy stuff.
For the early 1910s, the acting is actually quite subdued, especially compared to something like a Griffith two-reeler. The cinematography, on the other hand, is mostly static as most films of this period are, though there is one tracking shot in there. The compositions as divine per usual on a Bauer project.