Assisted by luminous photography and Henry King's sympathetic direction, Lillian Gish delivers a most compelling performance in this lavish production, filmed entirely in Italy. True, she has excellent support from subdued yet charming Ronald Colman, chillingly malevolent Gail Kane, J. Barney Sherry and others, but it's Miss Gish's movie and she makes the most of it.
Camera-wise, King's direction is very static, but nonetheless engaging. He not only has an eye for the pictorial values of his sets and locations, but adroitly maintains audience interest at a high level through the various predictable turns of the plot, although the long-awaited climax proves somewhat disappointing and lacks spectacle.
Camera-wise, King's direction is very static, but nonetheless engaging. He not only has an eye for the pictorial values of his sets and locations, but adroitly maintains audience interest at a high level through the various predictable turns of the plot, although the long-awaited climax proves somewhat disappointing and lacks spectacle.