The Bride of Hate (1917) Reviews

The racial prejudices of 1800's America died hard; in fact, they were still strong enough in 1916 for this film to be made. It involves Southerner Dr. Duprez (Frank Keenan), whose grandniece kills herself after being betrayed by Paul Crenshaw (Jerome Storm). For revenge he introduces slave Mercedes Mendoza (Margery Wilson) to Crenshaw, telling him that the girl is a Spaniard. The man falls in love with Mercedes and as soon as he marries her, the good doctor denounces him as the husband of a Negro. Crenshaw becomes a drunk and is killed when he wanders into a quarantined part of town and tries to leave. Then the doctor finds out that Mercedes really is Spanish, and she has not one drop of Negro blood in her veins; on top of that, the girl is his own granddaughter. So Mercedes wins the old man's love and amends. Exhibitors in the South were warned that theatergoers in their section of the U.S. could find this story offensive. Its shamefully negative attitude towards AfricanAmericans would be even more offensive to the majority of modern-day filmgoers. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi