I just watched this film on TCM, on its television premiere, and it was quite a chance to see this rarity. The Rex Beach story, as directed by James Cruze for Howard Hughes, is probably much more interesting that the actual film.
There are a some gaps in the continuity as the ending approaches. The Evelyn Brent character completely vanishes from the film and the murder of the husband is not solved. The way the Klu Klux Klan is presented with a complete display of incompetence: Thomas Meighan's character is brutally and unjustly tortured and in the end they left him go as if nothing has happened...
In the way the Klan is presented here it seems that in that town everybody lives under a tyrannical and authoritarian regime with no complaints!!! Robert Israel's score is good, even when he reuses music cues from other silent films he had previously scored and the restoration efforts were quite good. However, it would be nice that the effort would be place in much better films than this one.
There are a some gaps in the continuity as the ending approaches. The Evelyn Brent character completely vanishes from the film and the murder of the husband is not solved. The way the Klu Klux Klan is presented with a complete display of incompetence: Thomas Meighan's character is brutally and unjustly tortured and in the end they left him go as if nothing has happened...
In the way the Klan is presented here it seems that in that town everybody lives under a tyrannical and authoritarian regime with no complaints!!! Robert Israel's score is good, even when he reuses music cues from other silent films he had previously scored and the restoration efforts were quite good. However, it would be nice that the effort would be place in much better films than this one.