Volume II: Filmography Volume II: Filmography
July 23, 1912 (Tuesday)
Length: 1 reel
Character: Drama
Cast: Florence LaBadie (Lady Anne), William Russell (rejected suitor of Lady Anne), Carl LeViness (accepted suitor of Lady Anne in 1770), Harry Benham (suitor of Lady Anne in 1912)
Notes: 1. This film was originally scheduled to be released on July 7, 1912, but after the release date was changed to July 23, 1912 numerous trade notices maintained the July 7, 1912 date. The move was made so that Under Two Flags could be moved forward to July 7th, so as to compete more effectively with the Gem version of the same story released on July 9th. 2. Some announcements bear the title The Portrait of the Lady Anne.
SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, July 6, 1912:
"It hung in the place of honor in the old colonial house, and the daughter of the family was very proud of it, for she could prove by the likeness that she was the descendant of the proud Lady Anne, who had been a noted belle one hundred years ago. The portrait had been painted before Lady Anne was married, and only a few years before she died, leaving a broken-hearted husband, and one little child. They were rumors that the Lady Anne had died of a broken heart, because she believed that she had sent one of her disappointed suitors to death, but it was only a tradition, and the girl never believed it. The girl was the living picture of Lady Anne. Everyone told her so, and she had no reason to doubt it. Naturally she liked to watch the painting, knowing the other woman's life story, or believing she did, she wondered often of what her own would be.
"They had a house party at her home one time, and at night there was a dance. The girl, in a spirit of fun, took all the other young women up to the attic and fitted them out with costumes of days gone by. She herself wore the dress in which Lady Anne had posed for her portrait, for it emphasized the resemblance. At the dance, the girl and her fiancé had a quarrel. It seemed most serious to her at the time, although it was only a trifle. Still, she returned him his ring and told him that it was all over between them forever. For the moment she believed it herself. So she flounced upstairs, took off her gala dress, and was thoroughly miserable. The young man was unhappy, too. The others were dancing, but he stood sadly in one corner. A moment later he brightened up, for his sweetheart entered, and with a radiant smile, went over to him. He welcomed her gladly, they danced, and all his troubles were forgotten.
"It wasn't the girl he was dancing with, however. She was upstairs in her room at the time. Finally the music drew her out, but as she was not dressed for the party, she slipped out the window and peered in the downstairs room, hoping to see a thoroughly miserable Jack. To her amazement she saw him dancing - with herself. She could not comprehend until she had cautiously made her way into the library. Then she saw that the portrait of the Lady Anne was missing and she realized that a miracle had been performed in her behalf. She went back to her room and reverently picked up the gown of the Lady Anne. Out of the pocket dropped a note, written one hundred years ago. She read it and understood. The old legend was true; the Lady Anne had lost the man she loved because of a foolish quarrel, and then died of grief. The girl knew that what she had seen was meant as a lesson to her, so she decided to be guided by it. The lovers made up and never quarreled again, and they say that the portrait of the Lady Anne was seen to smile on their wedding day, but as one matter-of-fact individual said, perhaps it was only the reflection of the sun upon the glass. Perhaps! But the girl does not believe it, and never will."
REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, July 28, 1912:
"From every angle of view this is a wholly delightful photoplay and one of such originality in theme and presentation that it cannot but be recalled long after dozens of others have been forgotten. It is staged with a care and excellence in settings and furniture that is noteworthy, while it is acted so effectively and without any false pantomime or posing as to raise it to a high plane of silent dramatic performance. It begins in the year 1770 when the portrait of the Lady Anne is hung in the principal drawing-room of her ancestral home. She is wooed by a lover and won, but at a dance she becomes childishly jealous of another girl with whom she finds her lover chatting. She breaks the engagement and the man goes off to war and is killed. She receives a farewell letter before he starts, in which he predicts that she will regret her act as long as she lives. In after years she is stricken with remorse and though she had married another her life had been anything but happy. The story then takes a jump to the year 1912 when the direct descendant of the Lady Anne entertains a party of friends at a weekend gathering in her country home. She, too, is wooed and won by an ardent lover, but she also has a fit of jealousy when he dances with another girl, and rushes to her room in tears. She and a few of her guests had decided to dress in colonial costumes for the dance and in the attic had unpacked a set of gowns worn by her ancestors in the past, her gown being the same worn by the Lady Anne the night of the first ball when she had rejected her lover.
"As the girl is weeping in her boudoir suddenly the spirit of Lady Anne in the old portrait comes to life and walks from the picture with a determination to prevent the silly action of her descendant. She goes to the lover, who mistakes her for his sweetheart, so striking is the likeness, and they dance on as if nothing had happened. The girl, still jealous but more contrite, slips downstairs and through a window peeps into the ballroom. There she sees a vision like herself with her lover and sees them embrace. The couple are seen to walk out of doors and the girl goes out to a balcony to watch them. Suddenly the spirit lady vanishes and the lover is about to follow her, when he sees his sweetheart above him. Bewildered, he goes toward her, climbs the balcony and their quarrel is at an end. The spirit lady walks back to her portrait in the interim and takes her place as of old. As the lovers make up her spirit becomes reconciled and she smiles her happiness and sends her blessing to them. This portrait business is accomplished through a feat of clever double photography and dissolving, which calls for a special word of praise. The whole is unique, thoroughly artistic and an offering well worth securing."
REVIEW, The Moving Picture News, July 13, 1912:
"Lady Anne, for July 23, is a winner. That such words 'creepy' and 'gooseflesh' were heard flitting in awed whispers around the projection room is a fact that tells more forcibly the deep impression made by the picture on its audience. The story opens in the year 1770, when the beautiful Lady Anne, played in a charming manner by Miss Flo LaBadie, in a jealous fit throws over her lover, who goes away to the war and is killed. She marries another and a child is born. From here we are transported to the year 1912, where a descendant of Lady Anne is entertaining. Much the same happening occurs, and so the spirit of Lady Anne steps from its frame, and so on."
REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, August 3, 1912:
"A mighty pretty picture. Its interest was heightened by the intelligent and artistic interpretation of the present-day descendant of the original portrait, Flo LaBadie. The author put into his work one notably good 'punch,' one of those apparently little things which strike so hard, which jolt. The Lady Anne, in the days around 1770, quarreled with her lover, and transferred her affections, or at least the outward physical symbol of those affections. Her former lover had written her note of farewell, expressing regret at their quarrel and telling Lady Anne that he was off for the wars. The descendant of 1912 at a house party, which she had by reason of her own jealousy quarreled with her lover, had been attired in a gown of Lady Anne. After the girl had gone to her room the sound of music caused her to look below. She saw her lover dancing - with a counterpart of herself; with the figure in the painting, as Anne made it in the days of 1770. She could not comprehend the identity of the dancer until she saw the empty frame. As she picked up the old-time dress there dropped from somewhere in its folds the letter written by the sweetheart of the Lady Anne. Its application to present conditions was so pertinent the jealous girl sought her lover; the breach was healed. This film is more than a mere play; it is of marked pictorial beauty."
REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, July 24, 1912:
"Put on with the usual Thanhouser charm and character displayed in the wealth of detail and general tone of setting and production, this proves as pretty and delicate a little fantasy as one would care to see. Flo LaBadie gives a most charming portrayal of the Lady Anne in old colonial days and in the present day, and William Russell is his usual self as the rejected suitor of Lady Anne, while Carl LeViness is the accepted suitor. Harry Benham is as pleasant as ever as the suitor of Lady Anne of the present day. Lady Anne was the lady of 1770 and had her portrait painted. Because her lover picked up another lady's riding stick, she quarreled with her lover and married another. In 1912 Lady Anne had a descendant who looked exactly like her, and her portrait stood in the hall, where all who entered commented upon the resemblance.
"There was a ball, and Lady Anne's descendant and her friends dressed in costumes of days gone by. Lady Anne's descendant was the counterpart of the portrait, and, like the Lady Anne of years before, she was also jealous. When she saw her lover fanning another, she refused to have more to do with him. This troubled the Lady Anne in the portrait, and she came to life - a decidedly well-managed effect and most dainty in conception. She danced with the young man, and her descendant saw through the window. In the hall she discovered the portrait gone, and realized what had happened. In the garden she saw Lady Anne the portrait kiss her lover, and in the room she found the note written years before and which had fallen out of the ancient dress. It was from the lover of years before. He declared that Lady Anne would regret her quarrel to her dying day. Thus she beckoned her lover from the balcony, and he answered the call in true Romeo spirit."
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Copyright © 1995 Q. David Bowers. All Rights Reserved.