AllMovie

Color cinematography was in its very early infancy when filmmaker J. Stuart Blackton made this period drama with an all-British cast. The process used at the time was Prizma, and while the effect was stunning -- primarily because it was such a novelty -- it had a lot of flaws. Red and green predominated in this picture, and movement -- especially in the long shots -did not register very well. Considered a special effect at the time, color served as a backdrop for a tale about the days of King Charles II (William Luff) and the great London fire. Lady Beatrice Fair (Lady Diana Manners, in a not very distinguished debut) has always been in love with her childhood sweetheart, Hugh Argyle (Gerald Lawrence). But when she is conned at the gambling table, she runs into massive debt and pledges to marry a murderer so he will take over her debts before his execution. But then the London fire breaks out and all the prisoners are released. He comes to claim his wife, but she wants to reunite with Argyle. The murderer tries to kill his rival, but then has a change of heart and saves him -- and Lady Beatrice -- instead. The childhood sweethearts are together once more, while the murderer's real wife tracks him down.