This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.
MODERN SYNOPSIS
(from surviving print)
(Museum of Modern Art)
PART 1
Raphael, a sculptor, wearing a pork pie hat and working with clay, is seen in his large and airy studio, modeling a statue of a man who is flexing his right arm. On the studio wall are various plaques.
HIS MOTHER IDOLIZES HIM
Raphael’s mother goes through a door into the studio, carrying a basket. The studio is part of Raphael’s home, and it can be entered through an exterior door as well as through a door leading from the parlor. Raphael is seen working on a statue of a madonna and child. Now we see Raphael looking toward his mother, who is gazing in his direction, through the doorway from the parlor.
MARIE, HOMELESS AND STARVING, FINDS FRIENDS
Marie, a girl with a beautiful face but with unkempt hair of nearly waist length, is seen wandering on a country hillside, clutching a scarf. She approaches an old wooden house, which turns out to be Raphael’s home, and knocks on the front door. On the inside, Raphael is seated in an armchair, reading a book aloud to his mother, who is sewing or mending nearby. Raphael’s mother opens the door and finds Marie collapsed on the porch. Raphael lifts the limp Marie and carries her inside to a sofa. He and his mother comfort the apparently lifeless figure. His mother brushes Marie’s forehead, while Raphael brings her a drink of water in a stemmed crystal goblet. Marie looks up, takes the water, smiles, and clutches her bosom. Raphael’s mother caresses her and helps her sit up, while Raphael goes off to attend to some business.
ORPHAN, NOW ONE OF THE FAMILY, SECRETLY LOVES RAPHAEL
Raphael, wearing white gloves and a top hat, has his clothes brushed by his mother, then kisses his mother goodbye, and heads out to what seems to be an important engagement. Marie, beautifully dressed in a white lace dress, secretly watches him leave, later prolonging her view by peering through a window, while his mother watches him through the doorway. Marie, her hands clasped in prayer, looks heavenward as Raphael goes away, after which she sobs, her hands to her face. Raphael’s mother goes out on the front porch to get one last view of her departing darling son. Marie, who looks the very picture of grace and beauty, adjusts her hair. As the mother comes in the door, Marie abruptly turns and pretends to work with an arrangement of flowers in the corner, in an effort to hide the fact that she was looking out the window after Raphael. She and Raphael’s mother converse. Marie has one last look out the window, then draws the shade.
AT AN ART EXHIBITION RAPHAEL MEETS MARCO
The camera depicts an indoor exhibition of art in a museum or similar setting, with statues arranged on pedestals and with paintings on the walls. Nearly a dozen well-dressed men and women admire the various objects. Some converse, while others consult printed programs. Raphael, holding a cane in his left hand, talks with a young girl, Marco, to whom he has just been introduced by a heavy-set woman who is perhaps 60 years old. Marco sports an ermine stole and muff, and a brocade cape, and is obviously a woman of means.
THE WOMAN HE LOVES POSES FOR HIM
Marco is now in Raphael’s studio and is posing for him, wearing a filmy gown and with her left hand on her left breast. Around the studio are many objects, including a madonna and child, another statue, a winged cherub, and some unused pedestals. The artist adjusts Marco’s pose, then steps back to contemplate his subject. Holding a grapefruit-size piece of clay, he adjusts her pose slightly, then goes to the statue he has created of her, then looks back at her, conversing in the meantime. Marie, unobserved by the artist, watches the proceedings, then slips back through the door into the parlor.
SOME TIME LATER
Raphael continues modeling in clay. As the statue, about four feet high, nears completion, he views it with growing admiration. With a knife in his hand he forms the clay, adding details, while all the while Marco poses.
RAPHAEL’S MASTERPIECE IS COMPLETED
The statue now has a white appearance, instead of the former pasty gray hue. It appears to have been painted or coated with some substance. Now that the statue is nearly finished, Marco is no longer posing. Attired in a formal dress, she comes to view the masterpiece. Raphael gets a chair for Marco to sit in, so that she can be comfortable. The artist makes a few changes at the last minute. To add some final touches, Raphael takes a mallet and large chisel and gives the clay some final blows, while pointing out a detail to Marco.
HIS INFATUATION GROWS
The scene now changes to an elegant indoor parlor, apparently in Marco’s home, where Raphael and Marco are seated in an S-shaped chair, facing and leaning toward each other. As he eagerly bends toward her, Marco seems to be preoccupied with playing with a rose, and pays little attention to her admirer. Finally, Raphael, looking very happy, stands up, kisses her proffered hand, and then departs, leaving the front of the building via marble steps. As he does so, he glares at another man who is making his entrance. The newly-arrived visitor is greeted by the butler. The scene changes to the parlor, in which Marco is still seated in the S-shaped chair, holding a rose. The butler introduces the gentleman visitor, and Marco bids him to sit in the chair with her. He remains standing, however, and presents her with a velvet-covered jewel box, which he opens. Drawing out a multiple strand of pearls, he places the gift around her neck.
Now we are back at Raphael’s home. He arrives, takes off his top hat, and looks very dejected, apparently from his failure to excite Marco’s romantic interest. He turns, walks through the door, and enters his studio, as Marie, unobserved, watches. Raphael removes the canvas from his statue of Marco, as Marie comes through the door. She sees him admire his masterpiece and realizes he is in love with the image of what he has created. Marie backs away.
The scene changes back to Marco’s parlor. The pearl-giver is seated in the S-shaped love chair and is talking with the object of his affections. The butler comes in and makes an announcement. A gentleman, an editor who is a friend of the sculptor (from the synopsis; the relationship is not clear in the film), arrives and sits down near the two lovers and talks with both of them.
RAPHAEL REFUSES TO BELIEVE A VOLAGE, WHO TELLS HIM MARCO HAS NO HEART
PART 2
Back at his studio, Raphael is gazing at his statue of Marco, which, although made of clay, appears as white as marble.
MARCO IS FLATTERED BY THE RICH MAN’S ATTENTIONS
In her home, Marco’s other admirer, the rich man, comes and brings her a bouquet of nearly two dozen roses. Marco takes one rose and sniffs it, while her suitor stands nearby. He then hands the bouquet to the butler, and sits down in a chair close to Marco.
THE DREAM
Raphael, in his studio near his masterpiece, is in a stupor, with his eyes only half-opened. He bows his head and falls into a dream. We are now in ancient Greece. Raphael is a sculptor in a studio, and in distance in the background, below the elevation of the studio, can be seen the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens (which, in actuality, was the highest object in its immediate area of the ancient city). Raphael walks out of his studio, and we next see him and other Greeks in front of a building fronted with large, fluted stone columns.
A RICH ATHENIAN BECOMES A POOR SCULPTOR’S PATRON
A maiden (the ancient counterpart of Marie; played by Florence LaBadie) brings goblets of wine to Raphael and his wealthy patron (played by the same person who in modern times is Marco’s wealthy suitor). The patron reaches into his toga, takes out a money purse, and gives it to the sculptor in payment for a statue he has commissioned.
HE FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE STATUE HIS GENIUS CREATED
In the ancient studio we now see a life-sized marble statue of a standing woman, her left hand resting on a pedestal. The maiden (Marie) attempts to serve wine and grapes to the sculptor, but he refuses the refreshments, for he is preoccupied with finishing his work. The patron returns to see the statue he has paid for, the sculptor sees him, stands up, and returns his purse to him. The patron folds his arms, as if to refuse the refund, at which time Raphael orders him to leave the studio, which he does, followed by two helmeted guards. Raphael approaches his creation, as if to embrace it, but then kneels at the statue’s feet. The scene changes briefly to the outside, then back to the studio interior, where the patron has returned with the two helmeted guards. They approach the artist and read him a proclamation inscribed on a scroll.
DIOGENES PROPOSES THAT THE STATUE DECIDE BETWEEN LOVE AND RICHES
Diogenes, a frail, hunched-over, bearded old man, carries a box-like metal lantern with an iron ring at the top. A group of onlookers admire the statue, and the wealthy patron touches it. The statue moves, then comes to life! The statue, who, apparently, is to choose who is to be her owner, ignores her creator, who wrings his hands in despair, and resumes his position at her feet.
MARBLE HEARTS, MINISTERS OF RUIN, MISERY AND DEATH
The wealthy patron approaches the statue and displays an open jewelry box filled with baubles, to which the statue nods in assent, thus making her choice for the riches. The patron bedecks her with strands of pearls, while the sculptor, ignored by his creation, remains at her feet. In the meantime, Diogenes is hustled away, and most onlookers leave. The patron carefully places a tiara and additional pearls on the marble figure.
The scene changes back to modern times, and we see Raphael in his studio, awakening from his dream-filled sleep. Drowsily, he stands up, rubs his eyes, puts his hand to his forehead, and begins to realize where he is. Looking around, he rushes to his clay statue of Marco and caresses his creation. Now we see a modern ballroom bedecked with hanging garlands and decorated with potted palms. A half-dozen or more couples are dancing, and in the foreground we see Raphael with Marco, with a dance program on a cord around her neck, as his partner. As Raphael is in the midst of a conversation with his intended love, her wealthy suitor approaches and entices her to a nearby bench under a palm plant. Raphael is left alone. The sculptor’s editor friend approaches, sees the wealthy suitor in intimate conversation with Marco, and is upset by what he realizes is happening. Placing his hands on his hips, he appears puzzled; then he puts his hands on his chin and turns around as if to locate Raphael. Finding the sculptor, he explains what he saw, after which Raphael seems resigned to the fact that he is the loser in the match.
Marco and her wealthy companion, who are kissing, are approached by Raphael, who slaps the rich man across the face. Marco places herself between Raphael and the rich man (who has fallen back against the bench). She extends her left hand, wrist bent, presumably to display a just-received engagement ring. Marco, in effect, asks the sculptor why he is doing such a thing and indicates that he should mind his own business. To prevent a further fight, the editor friend takes Raphael by the shoulders and leads him away.
BROKEN HEARTED, AFTER A LONG ILLNESS, RAPHAEL DESTROYS HIS MASTERPIECE
In the parlor of Raphael’s home we see the sculptor ill, dressed in a bathrobe, lying on a sofa. The ever-loving Marie, with a stemmed crystal goblet of water, ministers to him, a reversal of the earlier situation in which Marie was cared for when she first arrived on the artist’s doorstep. Raphael, somewhat dazed, stands up and staggers toward the door leading to his studio. Grasping the door frame for support, he continues onward, enters the atelier, and goes to the statue of Marco. He removes its canvas cover, looks at his creation admiringly, and caresses its head, when he is overcome by emotion. He grabs a mallet and attacks the statue’s head, shoulders, and torso, and breaks it into countless shards. Meanwhile, in the adjoining parlor the editor friend comes to see Raphael, and asks Marie where he is. She looks puzzled and gestures toward the divan, as if to say, I don’t know; he was just here. Then both suddenly look toward the studio door, apparently upon hearing the sounds of demolition. Both go through the door into the studio, where they find Raphael hugging the legs—the only part remaining intact—of his shattered statue. They pull the sculptor away, lift him up, and assist him toward the parlor. The sculptor, still dazed, falls in a faint on the sofa.
Marco comes to the studio and sees the shattered statue, which we see in a momentary scene, too brief to be comprehended fully; something may be missing at this point. The scene changes to the sculptor’s parlor, where Marie, the editor friend, and the mother are all comforting Raphael, who remains prostrate.
(The remainder of the film is missing.)
May 16, 1913 (Friday)
No release because of two-reeler of previous Tuesday, noted a Thanhouser advertisement.
