The Messenger of Death

“A two-reel picture of the Indian frontiers in which the hill people attack the compound left in the care of a sergeant (Irving Cummings) with a handful of men and the sister of the captain to the guard. There is very little dramatic action in it, hardly enough to fill out one reel, and the ending is tragic without the deep significance that makes tragedy worthwhile. A weak offering.”

“Capable work on the part of the players is perhaps the best thing that can be said for this unduly long script. Mignon Anderson and Irving Cummings, trapped by an uprising of the Indians and with but a few cartridges between them, decide to shoot themselves rather than be taken by the brown men. As she lacks courage he shoots her. There is really little more action to the entire two reels than this. The sight of the numerous hillsmen of India and the British soldiery who take some of the scenes at a smart canter will hardly prove engrossing, especially when their actions, as here, seem to some extent deftly introduced padding. The country in and around Westchester, however, has given some worthwhile scenes, and the film throughout bears the careful work on the part of the camera. The troops leaving the fort to quell a threatened uprising, the treacherous natives attack and hem the sergeant and the captain’s daughter in the house with a few faithful ones. A messenger escapes and brings the troops back, but they arrive just too late to avert the tragedy described above.”

“A picturesque scene presented itself outside the new studios of the Thanhouser Company at New Rochelle not long ago, at the hour of nine in the morning, when comes the daily call to rehearsal. Through the lane between the commodious new buildings of cement came a troop of mounted Arabs on black horses. In their gold-braided uniforms and snowy turbans they were a striking cavalcade, and many of the natives gathered to admire. Heads were thrust out of studio windows as the Oriental riders drew rein below. There were about a dozen beautiful horses, all black except one which was snowy white. Then word was passed round that the Arabs were a feature of the new drama in process of production, The Messenger of Death. The New Rochelle directors certainly believe in putting realism into pictures, and no subject is too ambitious to attempt, according to C.J. Hite, who has even used as his mise-en-scene the bottom of the sea.”