The Coming of Amos on AllMovie

Produced but not directed by Cecil B. DeMille, The Coming of Amos nevertheless has many earmarks of a typical DeMille film, including a climax straight out of a gaslit melodrama. Rod LaRocque plays Amos Burden, a handsome Australian who takes a Riviera vacation. Here he falls in love with White Russian princess Jetta Goudal, who is tricked into marriage by lecherous Noah Beery. When Goudal declares her devotion to Amos, Beery spirits her away to his castle by the sea. She spurns his advances, whereupon Beery locks Goudal in the cellar and opens the floodgates, allowing the water to slowly pour in. "My last wife changed her mind down here!" leers Beery as Goudal screams for assistance. Amos comes dashing to Goudal's rescue in a thrilling finale that has since been excerpted in several compilation films (and is seldom taken seriously by modern audiences).