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1914Thanhouser CompanyOne reelDrama

Naidra, the Dream Woman

No copy you can watch online. No print is known to survive. What follows is what does: the release, the cast, the story, and what the trade press said at the time.

The story

“An old scientist all his life had labored in his laboratory to discover the secret of the creation of human life. At last he happens on an ancient book which gives him the clue. And he brings into being a woman, beautiful but incapable of love. He shows her happy lovers, that she may see what love means. He takes her to where a mother is singing her baby to sleep, that she may realize how love finds fulfillment. Then he leads her where a father and mother are weeping together over the grave of their child, hoping thus to reveal to her sorrow and the meaning of renunciation. But the woman fails to respond. A young organist visits the scientist—and he and Naidra, the dream woman, fall in love. the old scientist, who has come to love his Galatea deeply, is filled with grief to see that where he has failed, another has succeeded. As the organist is about to kiss Naidra, the scientist rushes forward—and awakes to find that Naidra and his love for her is all a dream.”

Summary from Reel Life · 28 November 1914

What the papers said

3 reviews

“A fantastic and imaginative story, dealing with the artificial creation by an old scientist of a beautiful young woman, who, having been successfully brought to life, rapidly falls in love. Whereupon the unhappy scientist suddenly awakes and realizes that he has been dreaming. It is an unusual, but by no means ineffective, little tale, and the fact that it is …

Read in full · 1 min

“A fantastic and imaginative story, dealing with the artificial creation by an old scientist of a beautiful young woman, who, having been successfully brought to life, rapidly falls in love. Whereupon the unhappy scientist suddenly awakes and realizes that he has been dreaming. It is an unusual, but by no means ineffective, little tale, and the fact that it is framed in a dream renders any comment upon its obvious improbabilities unnecessary. It is exceedingly well acted by Riley Chamberlin as the scientist, and Mignon Anderson as the girl. It is also notable for some exquisitely beautiful lighting and tinting effects, introduced in a very striking scene, representing the interior of a church by night.”

The Bioscope · 11 March 1915

“A scientist brings to life Naidra, a beautiful girl. She seems incapable of love and he falls in love with her in vain. An organist awakens her love and as he is about to kiss her the scientist himself awakes to find it all a dream.”

The Morning Telegraph · 29 November 1914

More reviews

12 December 1914The Moving Picture World1 min

“An old man dreams he has made a beautiful woman by following the mystic formula taken from an old alchemistic book he has stumbled on in a book stall. The professor thinks he owns the ‘dream,’ but she falls in love with the organist of a church. Until this latter episode begins there is little suspense; but after it the picture holds strongly. The acting is good and has many poetical and very pleasing pictures. It may be called an artistic offering.”

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Cast and crew

Director
Eugene Moore
Cast
Carey L. Hastings as the scientist’s helper
Mignon Anderson as Naidra
J. Morris Foster as the young organist
Riley Chamberlin as the old scientist

Every name opens that person's page, with each film they appear in and which of them you can watch.

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More about this film

Bowers’ notes

The New Rochelle Pioneer, October 24, 1914, carried the following item: “W. Eugene Moore is producing Naidra, The Dream Woman, with Mignon Anderson and Morris Foster in the leads.”

From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1914 →

Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “Naidra, the Dream Woman”. thanhouser.org/films/naidra-the-dream-woman/

Where a print is held

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