Review of A Throw of Dice

When I began watching "Throw of the Dice", I was immediately taken by the wonderful quality of the print--something you don't usually see on a film that is 81 years-old! Clearly, the recent restoration was a smashing success--as was the nice musical score. As a result, the film is well worth seeing--though I must admit that the story did seem to have some problems as it was a bit silly and hard to believe. After all, who is THAT stupid?! The story is about two cousins--each who is a king in an Indian kingdom. One is evil but hides it very well--and he intends to destroy his cousin and take his kingdom. First, an arrow is deliberately shot into the unsuspecting king during a hunting trip, but he manages to survive--and fall in love with the local doctor's daughter. Next, the doctor is murdered and the good king is framed...but that plot, too, in undone when the man hired to do the killing admits his deed as he himself dies. So, the wicked king decides to cheat the cousin out of his kingdom as well as his new fiancé through the use of loaded dice. How all this is resolved is for you to see when you watch the film.

As for the third plot to steal the kingdom, it's all very difficult to believe--especially that anyone would be stupid enough to fall for the evil king's plan to get his cousin to gamble away his kingdom. It all has a mythical quality about it and I assume this is probably taken from some ancient Indian folk tale. But, despite this being the weak point in the film, the rest of the movie is so lovely that I think the plot can be overlooked a bit. The film has wonderful cinematography, costumes, composition and beauty--it really is a work of art...and a work of art any silent film buff needs to see.