Rex Ingram Movies
Not to be confused with the African American actor of the same name, Irish-born actor/director Rex Ingram was a set designer and painter before entering films as a performer in 1914's Necklace of Rameses. Handsome enough to thrive as a film star, Ingram was more attracted to directing, making his debut in this capacity with the 1916 feature The Great Problem. A consummate artist, Ingram disliked the crass business haggling of Hollywood, and was particularly disenchanted with the level of American writing. He was drawn to the mystical, tragic novels of Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibanez; many of these were unfilmable, but one Ibanez adaptation, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1922), was not only a hit for Ingram but secured the stardom of Rudolph Valentino. Unwilling to submit to rushed production schedules and tight budgets, Ingram was not well loved in Hollywood, though he found a kindred spirit in fellow director Erich Von Stroheim, who like Ingram was meticulous in detail but careless in spending studio money. When Von Stroheim completed the eight-hour film drama McTeague, Ingram volunteered out of friendship to cut the film down to a more playable length. When Ingram's cut was whittled down further by MGM and released as Greed (1924), Ingram decided that he was sick of the so-called "butchers" of Hollywood and retreated to France, where he set up his own studios in Nice to direct films of his own choosing with his wife Alice Terry as star. Visually exquisite, with richly toned photography and beautifully tinted film stock, Ingram's features were artistic successes but box-office disappointments. Seen today, such Ingram films as Mare Nostrum (1926) and The Magician (1927) are feasts for the eye, but rather stodgy and slow; moreover, though he fancied himself a writer, Ingram's screenplays are often confusing and disorganized. Still, he was a staunch individualist in a world of cookie-cutter studio directors, and Ingram had a loyal following, even if his films lost money for his Anerican distributors. Utterly opposed to the introduction of talking pictures, Ingram made one sound film, Baroud (1931), which was filmed in Morocco. Thereafter, Ingram abandoned filmmaking for the tenets of Islam, devoting the last two decades of his life to introspective worship, writing, and sculpting. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1931
This British production was the final film of writer/producer/director Rex Ingram, who also stars; his wife Alice Terry assisted him as co-director. André Duval (Ingram) and Si Hamed (Pierre Batcheff) are both sergeants in the Spahis, the corps of Algerian native cavalry in the French Army. Duval falls in love with Si Hamed's sister Zinah (Rosita Garcia), even though an infidel's attentions to her can lead to his death. Zinah's father, Si Allal (Felipe Montes), is a Berber chieftan battling the bandit Si Amarok (Andrews Engelmann), who lusts after Zinah and plans to betray Si Allal. The Spahis defend him against the bandits, and Duval and Zinah come to terms with their feelings. When the Spahis leave, he is with them as she waves goodbye. Released in the U.S. in a 74-minute version called Love in Morocco, Baroud was also shot in a French-language version, with Duval and Zinah played by Roland Caillaux and Colette Darfeuil. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosita Garcia, Colette Darfeuil, (more)
- 1928
Mercurial director Rex Ingram closed out his silent-film career with the British production Three Passions. Ingram's lovely wife Alice Terry is cast as Lady Victoria, who tries to dissuade her sweetheart Philip Wrexham (Ivan Petrovitch) from becoming a priest. But Wrexham cannot forget the fact that he was responsible for the death of a foreman in his father's factory, and he intends to shut himself off from the rest of the world. When it turns out that Wrexham is the only man capable of preventing a crippling factory strike, his father prevails upon Lady Victoria to fetch the young man back to the "outside world." But Wrexham is immovable -- at least until he is galvanized into action when a cad tries to put the make on the beautiful Lady V. Realizing that his responsibilities lie with his father and his family business, Wrexham forsakes the priesthood, saves the factory, and weds the heroine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Ivan Petrovich, (more)
- 1927
Rex Ingram directed this romantic tale of passion about pious Father Adrian (Ivan Petrovich) who has taken a vow of silence, prayer, and chastity in order to gain entrance into the Trappist monastery of Notre Dame d'Afrique in Algeria. But his vows are broken when a young girl accuses him of an illicit embrace. Though Adrian is forced to undergo penance, the thought of the girl in his arms is too much for his fragile libido, so he renounces his vows for a life of debauchery. He takes off into the desert, reverting back to his secular name, Boris Androvsky. When he passes the oasis of Beni-Mora, he saves Domini Enfilden (Alice Terry) from a riot. Domini is devoutly religious, and she takes notice when, at a party at the home of Count Anteoni (Marcel Vibert), Androvsky shies away from the priests and their crucifixes. Nevertheless, Domini and Androvsky fall in love and they decide to marry. As they leave for a desert honeymoon, Androvsky has to decide whether or not to confess his true religious identity to Domini. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Ivan Petrovich, (more)
- 1926
Having struck box-office gold with his adaptation of the mystical Vincent Blasco-Ibanez novel The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, producer-director Rex Ingram adapted another Ibanez best-seller, Mare Nostrum, as a vehicle for his hauntingly beautiful actress wife Alice Terry. Set during WWI, the film casts Terry as Freya Talberg, a German secret agent. Though she seems to have ice water in her veins (there's even a hint that she prefers the company of women over men), Freya loses her heart to a Spanish sea captain, Ulysses Ferragut (Antonio Moreno). As a result, she is captured and sentenced to be executed, going to her death with a poise and dignity befitting a Joan of Arc. The firing-squad sequence is the film's piece de resistance, brilliantly photographed from the heroine's point of view by ace cinematographer John F. Seitz. Perhaps because virtually all the major characters die at the end, the film was a financial flop, even though its anti-war sentiments were perfectly attuned to the mid-1920s. For many years one of the most highly sought-after "lost" films, Mare Nostrum was restored to a reasonable approximation of its original tinted and toned glory in the late 1970s and has been shown several times over the Turner Classic Movies cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Uni Apollon, (more)
- 1926
The Magician was loosely based on the 1908 novel by Somerset Maugham -- which, in turn, was inspired by the controversial career of "Black Arts" practitioner Aleister Crowley. The great German actor Paul Wegener stars as Doctor Haddo, a self-styled sorcerer who has unearthed an ancient document revealing the formula for creating artificial life. The instructions are detailed and specific -- especially the one that lists "the heart's blood of a maiden" as a principal ingredient. Haddo selects the virginal Margaret Dauncey (Alice Terry) as the blood donor, first mesmerizing her into cooperating with his diabolical experiments then strapping her to the operating table in his crumbling, palatial laboratory. The film's literally explosive climax could not help but have influenced such future horror classics as The Bride of Frankenstein, though The Magician is itself less horrific than sensual, especially in the scene where Haddo convinces the hypnotized heroine that she is taking a journey into Hell. Dismissed as "tasteless" by critics in 1926, The Magician remains one of director Rex Ingram's most fascinating films; alas, most currently available prints are dupes, robbing the film of its original visual magnificence. Among Ingram's talented assistants on this film were future directors Harry Lachman and Michael Powell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Paul Wegener, (more)
- 1924
Rex Ingram, one of the major directors in American silent cinema, helmed this sweeping drama about Jamil Abdullah Azarn (Ramon Novarro), a hot-blooded Bedouin outcast from his family after he disobeys his father and stages a raid on an oasis during an Islamic holy feast. With nowhere to go, Jamil travels to Turkey, where he takes a job as a guide. He soon falls in love with Mary Hilbert (Alice Terry), the daughter of a team of Christian missionaries. When Jamil learns of a government plot to wipe out the city's Christian population, Jamil leaps into action to stop the killing, with the aid of a band of Bedouins. Jamil's bravery and compassion prevent the pointless slaughter and regain him the admiration of his father. Ingram, a stickler for realism, shot portions of The Arab on location in Algiers, using native Bedouins as extras. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Novarro, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1923
This romance, based on The Passionate Vine by John Russell, displays Ramon Novarro's masculine beauty to full effect. Pastor Spencer (Edward Connelly) is a missionary in the South Seas. His daughter, Matilda (Alice Terry), would prefer to return to civilization, but Spencer wants to convert not only the natives, but Captain Hull Gregson, a rough-hewn cafe owner (Harry Morey). Gregson lusts after Matilda so he joins Spencer's church, and even closes down his cafe to prove he is sincere. This convinces the minister to give Gregson his daughter's hand. But Matilda has fallen in love with Motauri, a young native chief (Novarro). They try to run away to his home, but their plans don't work out. Although Gregson is killed, Matilda decides that she can't marry Motauri after all and he throws himself into the falls. After that, her father finally takes her away from the islands. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward Connelly, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1923
This silent era classic was based on the swashbuckling adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini, the author whose works later inspired such renowned genre favorites as Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940). Andre Moreau (Roman Novarro) is a law student during the time of the brewing French Revolution who politically supports his dissatisfied fellow citizens. During a confrontation with the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (Lewis Stone), a feared nobleman sympathetic to the royalist cause, the blue blood murders Andre's agitator friend. Unable to engage in swordplay against the legendary prowess of the Marquis, Andre vows revenge and joins a local circus troupe, hiding behind the guise of Scaramouche, a clown, while training in the art of fencing with a master. Andre also falls in love with a woman smitten by the dashing Marquis, but she returns to the troupe when she learns of the nobleman's infidelity. As political unrest boils over into rebellion, Moreau and the Marquis cross steel. Scaramouche (1923) was remade often, most notably in 1952, which features the cinema's longest sword battle and costarred Stone in a different role. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramon Novarro, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1922
This epic-scale silent adaptation of the popular novel by Anthony Hope concerns Rudolph (Lewis S. Stone), a member of the royal family of Ruritania who is about to be crowned King. However, his conniving and ill-tempered brother has designs on the throne, and he drugs his sibling shortly before his coronation. Rudolph's allies find a British tourist who bears a striking resemblance to the would-be king, Rudolph Rassendyll (also played by Stone). They persuade the visitor to pose as Rudolph during the coronation to prevent the brother from usurping the crown. When the brother's henchmen discover that the Englishman is posing as Rudolph, they lock the real monarch away in a dungeon and attempt to expose the false king before he can be given the crown. The Prisoner of Zenda was directed by Rex Ingram, one of the most important directors of the American silent cinema, and co-starred Alice Terry as Princess Flavia and Robert Edeson as Colonel Sapt. The story was previously filmed in 1915, and would enjoy three more remakes during the sound era. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1922
Rex Ingram's talents as a director are very much in evidence in this drama, which is leavened by a sizable dose of comedy, courtesy of Harry Myers and George Cooper. Ingram all but allows them to steal the show, which keeps an otherwise maudlin tale from becoming too overbearing. When Joe Bascom (Jack Mulhall) leaves the farm to experience life in the big city, he predictably gets himself into trouble. Ultimately, he is sent up the river for a crime he did not commit. But his time in jail is not all bad -- he meets fellow prisoners Gilly and Mugsy (Myers and Cooper), who turn out to be true friends. When they are released, Bascom takes them back home, where he discovers that his mother (Lydia Knott) is about to be swindled out of her peach orchard by Deacon Tillinger (Edward Connelly). The three friends save Mrs. Bascom's property, and Joe falls in love with Tillinger's daughter, Elsie (Alice Terry). This picture was based on the successful stage play by Winchell Smith and Jack Hazzard. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Jack Mulhall, (more)
- 1922
Both Ramon Novarro and Barbara LaMarr had just appeared in Prisoner of Zenda and their careers were on the ascendant when director Rex Ingram used them once again for this remake of his 1917 picture Black Orchids. However, Lewis Stone -- also a Prisoner of Zenda alumnus -- almost steals the show. Leon de Severac (Pomeroy Cannon) is lecturing his daughter, Jacqueline (LaMarr), about her flirtatious ways. To hammer his point home, he tells her the following tale: Zareda, a beautiful fortune teller (also LaMarr), is loved by Ivan de Maupin (Navarro). Ivan's father, the Baron (Edward Connelly) also lusts after her, and Ivan comes to believe she is faithless. He goes to war and Zareda learns that the Baron is planning on poisoning the Marquis Ferroni (Stone), a millionaire. She makes sure the wine glasses -- one of which contains the poison -- are switched, and the Baron dies instead. Zareda marries the Marquis and when Ivan returns from battle, she instigates a duel between the two men. The Marquis is fatally wounded, but when he sees his scheming wife in Ivan's arms, he summons up enough life force to make sure that the pair meet untimely demises. Black Orchids was originally a novel by Honore de Balzac. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pomeroy Cannon, Barbara La Marr, (more)
- 1921
Director Rex Ingram's The Conquering Power served as the much-anticipated reteaming of Ingram's stars from Blood and Sand, Alice Terry (aka Mrs. Rex Ingram) and Rudolph Valentino. The latter plays an impoverished French aristocrat who falls in love with Alice, the stepdaughter of his wicked uncle Eric Mayne. Uncle is dead set against this romance, and to that end place insurmountable roadblocks in the lovers' path. But Valentino, who has proven that he can make his own way in the world, eventually wins Alice away from Mayne-but not before the old man has suffered a suitably gruesome demise. The Conquering Power is a prettied-up adaptation of Honore de Balzac's Eugenie Grandet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Terry, Rudolph Valentino, (more)
- 1921
The mystical novels of Vicente Blasco-Ibanez were much prized by ambitious silent filmmaker Rex Ingram, who filmed two of them in the 1920s, both ostensibly vehicles for his actress wife Alice Terry. The first of the two, Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, was infinitely more successful than the second (Mare Nostrum), a fact that can be attributed to two little words: Rudolph Valentino. The quintessential Latin Lover stars as Julio, the scion of a wealthy Argentinian family. During the years prior to World War I, Julio's relatives relocate to Germany and France, with Julio opting for the latter country, where he opens an art studio. Here he carries on a torrid affair with Alice Terry, the wife of an attorney. When World War I breaks out, Terry joins the Red Cross and her husband enlists in the army, while the carefree Julio avoids involvement in the conflict. Only when visited by the spectres of the Four Horseman--war, conquest, famine, and death--does Julio don a uniform. His death is a symbolic sacrifice on behalf of Ms. Terry, whose husband has been blinded in the war: and, in an additional symbolic grace-note, Julio dies at the hands of his own cousin, now a German officer. The film's Big Money sequence was the one in which Rudolph Valentino danced the forbidden tango in a dingy, smoke-filled Argentinian cantina. That's what made him a star, not all that mumbo-jumbo about fate, destiny, and Four Horsemen. Proof that Valentino and not Blasco-Ibanez was the principal drawing card of this film was the 1962 remake, in which Glenn Ford portrays Julio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rudolph Valentino, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1920
Yank Barstow (Elmo Lincoln) is the tough captain of a ship headed to South America. On board is Vance Clayton (Harry Van Meter), his wife Helen (Mabel Ballin), and their daughter, Peg (Nancy Caswell). Clayton supposedly has a shipment of pianos, but Barstow discovers that the crates really contain ammunition meant for a band of revolutionaries. There is a mutiny on the ship, and when they arrive at port, Barstow is sentenced to five years in prison. He allows this to happen only to save Helen and her little girl from disgrace. But he escapes and goes to live with a group of beachcombers. He becomes their leader after vanquishing the king beachcomber, Baltimore Bucko (Noble Johnson), in a fist fight. The group comes in handy when Barstow finds out that the revolutionaries are storming the American consulate. He gathers the men together, and they squash the revolutionaries. Clayton is killed when he tries to run away, and Helen finds happiness with Barstow. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
This Drury Lane melodrama, based on Cecil Raleigh's play, was given top-rate direction by Rex Ingram. Lord Altcar (Winter Hall) wants his daughter, Winifred (Francelia Billington), to marry Lord Burford (Joseph Kilgour). Instead, she secretly weds Michael Wain (Frank Brownlee), the gamekeeper. Lord Altcar angrily flogs Wain and fires him -- separating the lovers. Years pass, and Lady Winifred becomes the owner of Altcar Manor. Her daughter, Dora (Alice Terry), is sent to be raised in a Swiss convent where she becomes engaged to an American artist, John Gillespie (Norman Kennedy). During this time, Wain has become a very wealthy man, and when he discovers that Altcar Manor is heavily mortgaged, he buys up all the deeds and makes plans to foreclose. But then he finds out that he has a daughter, and that she is being pressured by the same Lord Burford who wanted to marry Winifred. To destroy Dora's relationship with Gillespie, Burford doctors a painting he has done of her so that it looks like she posed nude. Dora, horrified, retreats to the convent. Meanwhile, Wain and Winifred have reconciled, and they go to Dora, but Lord Burford has already trapped her in his chalet. Finally, Burford is killed by his accomplice, Maurice Felden (Brinsley Shaw), who wants Dora for himself. Dora escapes from Felden into a snow storm. Winifred, Wain, and Gillespie find her, while Felden dies in an avalanche. Director Rex Ingram fell in love with Alice Terry during production and would marry her within the year. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Winter Hall, Alice Terry, (more)
- 1919
This routine drama was based on a Fannie Hurst story that appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. Marion Becker (Francelia Billington), the prize model in a Manhattan store, meets Warren Rogers, a widower from upstate New York (J. Barney Sherry). Rogers falls in love with her and asks her to be his wife and the mother to his two daughters. But Marion has a dark secret -- years before she was betrayed by Adam Kessler, the shop's proprietor (Harry Von Meter). Kessler advises her to accept Rogers' proposal but to keep quiet about her past. Marion follows his advice and is happy for several years. But then her eldest stepdaughter Marna (Gloria Hope) attracts the attention of Kessler. Kessler proposes to the girl, but Marion doesn't believe it for a minute. Finally she realizes that to save Marna she has no choice but to admit to her husband that she was ruined by Kessler. Rogers promptly tosses her out of the house (as the mores of the day demanded), and she returns to New York. A few months later Rogers comes into the city with Marna, and Kessler tries to see her; Rogers intervenes and gives Kessler a sound thrashing, then goes to Marion, begs forgiveness, and asks her to return home. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Although Henry Walthall's career went downhill after he stopped working with D.W. Griffith, occasionally he would appear in a film that was worthy of his talents. This drama was one of them; perhaps because it was made by another great director, Rex Ingram. Julian Randolph (Walthall) is a dishonest lawyer who specializes in procuring phony jurors. Nordhoff (Noah Beery), a political boss, offers him a judgeship if he can get his brother, Clifford (Eugene Palette), cleared of a murder charge. Randolph is more than happy to oblige and winds up on the bench. He is expected, of course, to do Nordhoff's bidding, but there's a problem: Randolph has fallen in love with the beautiful and innocent Laura Nelson (Lois Wilson). Their romance convinces him to lead an honest life, which brings him into a lot of conflict with his former supporters. His ex-sweetheart, Roxana Frisbee (Mary Charleston), also decides to go straight and refuses to give him away. Randolph manages to emerge victorious over his foes and win Laura, while Roxana finds love with an equally honest man. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
The convoluted story for this Chinatown drama was written by Rex Ingram, who also directed -- and it's surprisingly shoddy material from this renowned filmmaker. Even though he is innocent, Charley Sing (Frank Tokonaga) is arrested for the murder of a rival Tong. He is released when political intrigue intervenes, and journalist Harvey Pearson (M.K. Wilson) writes a sob story about the situation. Harvey is romancing Neva Sacon, a cabaret dancer (Gypsy Hart), and he takes her down to Chinatown. He has given her a silver poppy which he obtained during his research, and it just happens to be the symbol of Sing's Tong. Ah Wong, a member of Sing's rival gang (Gordo Keeno) sees it and kidnaps Neva. To get her back, Pearson kidnaps Ah Wong's wife, Tea Rose (Yvette Mitchell), while Sing writes a note in Chinese suggesting that the two women be exchanged. That is done, and Pearson proposes to Neva, who accepts. Tea Rose, meanwhile, has plans to run off with Paul Rasnov (Nicholas Dunaew), a Russian dope fiend. Ah Wong, however, discovers her plans and strangles her to death. Then he dies in a struggle with Rasnov, who dissolves his own woes in opium smoke. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Serrani (Wedgewood Nowell) brings Lisetta, an Italian girl (Gipsey Harte) to America but soon tires of her. She finds work in a sleazy club as a dancer, where she meets an artist, Graham (Millard K. Wilson). He hires her as a model and promptly falls in love with her, causing him to neglect his fiancee, Molly (Molly Malone). Lisetta tells Graham about Serrani and he angrily threatens to kill him unless he marries her. But Lisetta's brother Domenic (Nicholas Duunaew) gets to Serrani first and murders him. Circumstances point to Graham as the killer and he is tried and convicted. Graham is on his way to the electric chair when Domenic comes forth and confesses. Lisetta goes back home to Italy, where hopefully she'll cause a lot less trouble, and Graham returns to Molly. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Black Orchids opens with a prologue -- Marie Cleo Madison, is a flirtatious young schoolgirl. Her father, an author (Richard LaReno), wishes to cure her of her wanton developments so he tells her the story of Zoraida (also played by Madison), which is where the film really begins. Zoraida is an evil vamp whose stable of lovers include a father and son. The father gets his son out of the way by sending him off to war, but she poisons the father and marries Marquis DeChantal (Wedgewood Nowell). The son comes back and resumes his affair with Zoraida, which leads to a duel between him and the husband. DeChantal is killed, supposedly, but he's only been left for dead. Zoraida and her lover are about to marry when the husband (mortally wounded but still fairly mobile) shows up with vengeance in his soul. He locks his two-timing wife in a dungeon, then kills her lover and throws his dead body in with her, which drives her to madness. Whether this story really sets Marie on the straight and narrow is never fully explained, but who cares? Zoraida's gruesome end made for pretty good cinematic horror, which was, after all, the true point of the film. It's no surprise that the fine silent director Rex Ingram was responsible for this wonderfully salacious work. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1917
Katerina (Betty Schade) is seduced by Guido (Wedgewood Nowell), and is later sent to a convent by Princess Dione (Claire DuBray), who has befriended her. Guido marries the Princess for her money, much to the jealous Katerina's chagrin. When she returns from the convent, she and Guido plot to murder the Princess by withholding her medicine. They believe she is dead, but she is only in a trance. With the help of Feodor, the man who really loves her (Nicholas Duneaw), the Princess escapes from her tomb and goes to haunt Guido as a "ghost." The terrified man jumps off a cliff and is killed. Only a fragment of Reward of the Faithless survives today, but it is enough, in the words of film historian Liam O'Leary, to emphasize the structural similarities between the early works of Rex Ingram and the later masterpieces of director Erich Von Stroheim. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1916
Rex Ingram had been a jack-of-all-trades at various film studios for three years when, at the tender age of 23, he made his directorial debut with Universal's The Great Problem. The story, written by Ingram, concentrates on a mother named Mary Carson and her daughter Peggy, both played by Violet Mersereau. As Mary lays dying, her ex-crook husband Bill (Dan Hanlon, unable to pay for her medicine, resorts to stealing and is promptly arrested. Bill's pal Skinny (William J. Dyer promises to look after Mary and her daughter Peggy while Bill is in stir. During the next ten years, both Mary and Skinny die, leaving the teenaged Peggy to fend for herself. Arrested as a pickpocket, Peggy is hauled before District Attorney George Devereaux (Lionel Adams), who decides to adopt the girl and orchestrate her reformation. Within a few years, the once-hoydenish girl has become a proper young debutante. On the eve of Peggy's wedding to a handsome socialite, her father Bill is released from prison. Seeking revenge against D.A. Devereaux, the man who sent him up, Bill prepares to shoot the man at Peggy's wedding ceremony, little realizing that the bride-to-be is his own daughter. But Bill's aim is bad and Peggy is shot down instead. Upon recovering, Peggy engineers a detente between her father and her guardian -- then, as expected, our heroine declares that she'd sooner marry Devereaux than anyone else in the world. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Celebrated Danish actress Betty Nansen starred in this modernized version of Sardou's 1887 drama La Tosca. Some of the names are changed, but the basic story, about a woman who agrees to sleep with a duplicitous police official in exchange for her lover's life, remained unchanged. Well photographed, the film relied heavily upon long, languorous dissolves and dreamy flashback sequences. In addition, star Nansen was evenly matched by Arthur Hoops in the role of her rebellious lover Scarpia. Perhaps not as memorable as Puccini's operatic version of La Tosca, Song of Hate was nonetheless quite well received upon its original release; alas, like all of director J. Gordon Edwards' films, this 6-reel Fox production no longer exists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Nansen, Arthur Hoops, (more)
