AllMovie

The first collaboration between producer Joseph M. Schenck and his wife Norma Talmadge was also their first huge success. The film's title character (played by Talmadge) is a pianist graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. An evil Baron (L. Rogers Lytton) lusts after her, and through his machinations she winds up in jail. She escapes, only to be shipwrecked on the coast of England, where she meets and falls in love with Gerald Mordaunt (Earle Foxe), who is also a classical pianist and composer. They marry, but to finance the performance of a composition of Gerald's, Panthea is forced to become involved with the Baron. The Baron dies, however, and Panthea is re-arrested upon returning to Moscow. She and Gerald wind up in Siberia together, with the hope that the English consulate will get them a formal release. According to Anita Loos, Norma's mother, Peg Talmadge, came up with the idea of acquiring the Monckton Hoffe play from which this film was made. But it doesn't matter, really, who thought of combining Norma Talmadge with the role of a beautiful, long-suffering woman -- the shoe fit, and she wound up specializing in such roles for the rest of her career.