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The Road Through the Dark (1918)

The Road Through the Dark (1918) Clara Kimball Young Film Corp. (or C.K.Y.?)Distributor: Select Pictures Corp. Director: Edward Mortimer. Scenario: Katheryne Stuart. Camera: Arthur Edeson. Gowns: Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon). Cast: Clara Kimball Young, Jack Holt, Henry Woodward, Elinor Fair, Bobby Connelly, John Steppling, Lillian Leighton, Edward M. Kimball, Elmo Lincoln, Eugenie Besserer. 5 reels. This film is apparently LOST

A lobby card from the film, thanks to Derek Boothroyd for this scan
Click on the thumbnail for a larger view

Review from Variety
Reviews from Moving Picture World


Review from Variety, December 20, 1918

The Road Through the Dark
Gabrielle Jardee Clara Kimball Young
His Highness, Duke Karl of Strellitz Jack Holt
John Morgan Henry Woodward
Marie Louise Eleanor Fair
Georges Bobby Connolly
Antoine Jardee John Steppling
Louise Jardee Lillian Leighton
Private Schultz Elmo Lincoln
Father Alphonse Edward M. Kimball
Aunt Julie Eugenie Besserer

The daughter of a conventional French family becomes the mistress of a Boche prince to save the village from being burned and its occupants murdered by the invading German army. She lives this life for three years to secure information of value to the Allies. This is the story of Clara Kimball Young's next Select release. It was adapted from Maud Radford Warren's tale, scenario by Kathryn Stuart, directed by Edmund Mortimer, photographed by Arthur Edeson.

As a photoplay production, from the standpoint of acting, direction and atmospheric detail, it ranks with the best. The only doubt as to its success is now the general picture patrons will regard such a theme. Do they demand their heroines be delivered to the hero for the "clinch" as undefiled, or will they regard the circumstances as extenuating and accept her as a martyr to a sacred cause?

Jolo.




Reviews from Moving Picture World

December 21, 1918

"THE ROAD THROUGH THE DARK"
Clara Kimball Young the Heroine of Select Story That Will Arouse Different Opinions.
Reviewed by Edward Weitzel.

When Maud Radford Warren wrote "The Road Through the Dark" she built her plot on a situation that is bound to arouse a difference of opinion as to whether its use is justified by the author. No one will deny its dramatic value. In order to help her country, by spying on the enemy, a young French girl becomes the mistress of a German officer, goes to Berlin with him and lives openly with him for three years. At the end of that time he discovers her rifling his desk and she kills him in the struggle that ensues. Produced by Clara Kimball Young and her own company and released on the Select program, the picture has been adequately directed by Edmund Mortimer and given the benefit of a thoroughly competent cast. Its construction brings out the points of the story clearly and with strong dramatic effect.

Kathryn Stuart made the scenario. She has introduced one incident that will not be accepted by loyal Americans. No one who has followed the history of the German war lords in the present conflict is going to believe that His Highness, Duke Karl of Strellitz, was instructed by his superiors to stop all killing and unnecessary violence in the town that he had captured and where his soldiers are shown shooting down defenseless men and women and outraging young girls. The sooner this misleading incident is cut out, the better for the picture.

According to the scenario, when the Duke receives this communication he tells the young French girl, who has just seen her aunt and little brother murdered and her young sister attacked by a brute of a Hun, that he has been instructed not to spare anyone in the village, but that she can save them all at the price of her honor. Gabrielle consents, and for three years conceals her loathing of him so skillfully that the duke never suspects his victim is not deeply in love with him. After killing the duke Gabrielle escapes across the border and joins her American lover, with whom she has kept up a correspondence in code that betrayed valuable secrets to the Allies.

Clara Kimball Young plays Gabrielle with her usual artistic grasp and dramatic strength. Jack Holt, as the duke, is fully entitled to his position as leading support. The other characters are played by Henry Woodward as John Morgan, Eleanor Fair as Marie Louise, Bobby Connolly as Georges, John Steppling as Antoine Jardee, Lillian Leighton as Louise Jardee, Elmo Lincoln as Private Schultz, Edward M. Kimball as Father Alphonse, and Eugenie Besserer as Aunt Julie. Arthur Edeson was the photographer.


December 14, 1918

THE ROAD THROUGH THE DARK
Clara Kimball Young and Her Own Company Present a Screen Adaptation of the Brilliant Story by Maud Radford Warren

Cast:

Gabrielle Jardee Clara Kimball Young
His Highness, Duke Karl Jack Holt
John Morgan Henry Woodward
Marie-Louise Eleanor Fair
Georges Bobby Connolly
Antoine Jardee John Steppling
Louise Jardee Lillian Leighton
Private Schultz Elmo Lincoln
Father Alphonse Edward M. Kimball
Aunt Julie Eugenie Besserer

The Story: Gabrielle Jardee, daughter of a conservative Parisian family, is in love with an American, John Morgan, who her parents disapprove of. She is sent away from Paris to a small village, where her aunt lives with her sister and brother. The war comes and the Germans enter the town. She becomes the mistress of a German Kommandant. By means of a code which John understands she supplies the French Government with valuable information. In Berlin, she kills Karl and makes her escape to Paris, where she meets John, who offers her the love she thought she had lost.

Feature Clara Kimball Young as Gabrielle Jardee and Henry Woodward as John Morgan.

Program and Advertising Phrases: See Clara Kimball Young, Beautiful Screen Favorite, in Her Latest Masterwork.
See Clara Kimball Young as Mistress of German Prince and Spy of France.
Clara Kimball Young in a Story of the Early Stages of the War.
Thrilling Episodes and Heroic Patriotism in Stirring Photodrama.
Absorbing and Thrilling Story, of a French Girl Devotion to her Country.

Stunt Suggestions: Advertise Miss Young, especially through the medium of photographs and pictorial paper. Tell that it is the story of a French girl who became the mistress of a German prince in order that she might save her village and obtain information for France. Play up the situation of a girl who uses the cipher arranged by her sweetheart to tell of her degradation.

Advertising Aids: Two one-sheets, two three-sheets, one six-sheet, one 24-sheet. Window cards, 14x21. Heralds. Lobby display photographs, 8x10, 11x14, 22x28. Slides. Cuts, two one-column, two two-column, one three-column, one one-half column cut of star, and one one-column and one two-column cuts of star.
Released by Select in November.


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Last revised May 2, 2009