This film relates what seems to be two unrelated story lines. A young woman named Miss Smith wants to save her brother, Larry, from going to jail over $10k of money he illegally lost at his firm. The owner of that firm, Foster, has a son named Dick, who is head-over-heels in love with a Russian ballet dancer named Sonia. The father does not approve. The father then asks Sonia to give his son up, and she eventually agrees - if he will help Miss Smith.
As the story unfolds we find Sonia is involved with Russians who want to spread communism into the US government (a story idea about 20 years ahead of its time in Hollywood terms). The head bad guy is none other than Bela Lugosi, himself. Without spoiling too much, these two stories come together in a very preposterous way, but a way that is not dissimilar to many pulp stories from the 1920s. In other words, if you like spy melodramas from this era, this will not disappoint. And considering the film opens with a blatant lie that the town of North Hampton, New York is about 30 minutes from NYC (more like 3 1/2 hours on a good driving day), it doesn't stray too far from reality in the actual scenes. It's actually a pretty entertaining picture.
The print I saw was from George Eastman House. The final reel suffers very bad nitrate decomposition, but other than that and the 5th reel, the rest of the film looks beautiful. It was filmed in the winter and it's nice to see actual on-location snow for a feature. The acting is relatively good. Lugosi is fun as the villain. Fans will miss his voice, but love a scene when the girl cuts his lip with a rose thorn, leaving a trickle of blood going down his jaw - something we never actually got to see in either of his Dracula film performances. Needless to say, if you are reading this review, it is probably because you are a fan of his. He is, again, quite good in this and has a meaty role, so it is worth watching. The lead female, Marguerite De La Motte is also quite good and very striking. The role is a rather feminist part and she is the "daughter who pays"; in other words she does the dirty work while the men basically sit, watch and do nothing.
As the story unfolds we find Sonia is involved with Russians who want to spread communism into the US government (a story idea about 20 years ahead of its time in Hollywood terms). The head bad guy is none other than Bela Lugosi, himself. Without spoiling too much, these two stories come together in a very preposterous way, but a way that is not dissimilar to many pulp stories from the 1920s. In other words, if you like spy melodramas from this era, this will not disappoint. And considering the film opens with a blatant lie that the town of North Hampton, New York is about 30 minutes from NYC (more like 3 1/2 hours on a good driving day), it doesn't stray too far from reality in the actual scenes. It's actually a pretty entertaining picture.
The print I saw was from George Eastman House. The final reel suffers very bad nitrate decomposition, but other than that and the 5th reel, the rest of the film looks beautiful. It was filmed in the winter and it's nice to see actual on-location snow for a feature. The acting is relatively good. Lugosi is fun as the villain. Fans will miss his voice, but love a scene when the girl cuts his lip with a rose thorn, leaving a trickle of blood going down his jaw - something we never actually got to see in either of his Dracula film performances. Needless to say, if you are reading this review, it is probably because you are a fan of his. He is, again, quite good in this and has a meaty role, so it is worth watching. The lead female, Marguerite De La Motte is also quite good and very striking. The role is a rather feminist part and she is the "daughter who pays"; in other words she does the dirty work while the men basically sit, watch and do nothing.