|
[In the Duke’s Power]
Also known as In the Duke’s Power in the USA
(1914) Italy
B&W : One reel
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: (unknown)
Roma Film production. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was released in the USA by Warner’s Features, Incorporated, in October 1914.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? For a crime of which he was falsely accused Peter Neillson was condemned to life imprisonment. The fight against poverty was too much for his poor wife. On her deathbed she implored an old friend, Antonio, to take her infant daughter, Marie, and bring her up. For twenty long years the convict plotted to burst his dungeon bars, to fly to his child and devote the remnant of his life to her. The moment at last arrived. He escaped and again entered the world. With all speed he sought Antonio, only to be told that his daughter had run away years ago with a stranger. Antonio, however, introduced as his own daughter a young woman whose name was also Marie, and who was engaged to a worthy young man. The outcast looked with envious eyes upon the happy Antonio. After vainly seeking employment, he at last applied at the castle of the young and dissolute Duke of Belnord. To him Peter confided all, his past, his escape and his present condition, and begged for a chance to redeem himself. The duke saw his opportunity. He had been attracted by Marie’s beauty and longed to possess her. He accordingly took the convict into his confidence, and offered employment and safety in return for the trapping of Marie, Peter agreed to the Duke's terms. A few days later he proceeded to carry out his part of the bargain. He told Marie that her fiancé had been injured and taken to the castle, thus luring the unsuspecting girl into the Duke’s power. When Peter left the castle he met Antonio, who had missed Marie and was anxious about her. The moment of Peter’s revenge had come. “Your daughter,” he said, “was not better than mine. She has suffered the same fate.” He knew what Peter meant. “What have you done?” cried Antonio, “I loved Marie too much to give her up. I lied to you. She is your daughter.” Peter turned and dashed off toward the castle. He gained admittance, and asked for the duke. In frenzy, he explained his relationship to the girl, and demanded that she be liberated. The duke, with a shrug, ordered his lackeys to throw the convict out. Returning to the castle, he climbed the wall by means of jutting rocks and reached the parapet. He heard cries for help coming from the window of a room far below. Securing a coil of rope he lowered himself down the side of the castle. He reached the window. Through the bars he beheld his child unconscious in the duke’s power. The latter rushed to the window and attacked the rescuer with a knife. Peter lost his hold of the rope and fell backward, but he had looped the rope around his foot and was saved. A moment he hung head downward. Then slowly he regained his hold and climbed back to the window. He aroused the girl from her stupor. “I am your father, Marie,” he cried. “Come away, hurry.” They hastened to the window. Marie, when she beheld the great distance to the ground, shrank back in fear. Her father forced her through the bars, and together they made their way down to safety. When the duke returned and found the girl had gone, he resolved to deliver her convict father back to the law, and with a party of retainers started from the castle in quest of his man. In the meantime Peter had taken the girl to Antonio’s house. Then, receiving word of the duke’s intention to betray him, he fled. At the edge of a high precipice he found himself in a trap. Looking back he saw his enemy approaching. Before he could escape Belnord was upon him. There, with the abyss yawning beside them, they fought. Suddenly, with a harrowing cry, the duke fell backward. As he fell he clutched Peter, and together they went over the precipice. Antonio, Marie and her lover, who had seen the struggle from a distance, rushed to where the men fell. The Duke of Belnord lay motionless in death. Peter was gasping pitifully for breath when Marie knelt beside him. With a last effort the dying man placed Marie’s hand in her lover’s.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 23 October 2022.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 206 : Website-IMDb.
|
