The Serpent (1916)
Directed by Fritz Arno Wagner / Raoul Walsh
Genres - Drama |
Countries - United States |
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Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein
Raoul Walsh both wrote and directed this typically bosom-heaving Theda Bara melodrama about a Russian peasant girl who is violated by a lecherous Grand Duke (Charles Craig). In classic Bara style, the girl turns into a blood thirsty femme fatale and destroys not only the nobleman, but his entire family. Attempting to pacify local censorship boards, director Walsh betrayed his story slightly by employing the old "it was all a bad dream" denouement, leaving Bara's heroine to peacefully contemplate a future with her nice fiancée, George Walsh, the director's brother. Despite substituting Czarist Russia with what looked suspiciously like Fort Lee, New Jersey, The Serpent emerged as one of Bara's most popular films.
Characteristics
Keywords
apartment, aristocracy, doctor/nurse, dream, extramarital-affair, front-line, handicap, husband, identity, loot, nobility, officer, peasant, Russia, son, stage, submission, sweetheart, vamp, virtuoso, visit, wound [injury]
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