The Serpent (1916)
60 min | Drama | 23 January 1916 (USA)
Peasant girl Vania is assaulted by a duke who murders her lover and sends her away to London. There she becomes a famous actress. The Duke, seeing her perform but not recognizing her, hears that his son is wounded. "If anything should happen to my boy, I think it would kill me." That's all the motivation Vania needs to go to the front, find the one-armed paralyzed boy and marry him. Next she arranges to make love to his father just as the boy enters the room, causing the young man to blow out his brains.
- Written by Ed Stephan
Vania, a beautiful young peasant, falls asleep while worrying about getting her father's consent to marry her sweetheart Andrey. In her dreams, she lives a completely different life, as a vampirish vixen wreaking havoc in the lives of those she believes have done her wrong. The dream Vania determines to have revenge on the Grand Duke who has ruined her life, and no wickedness will prevent that revenge.
- Written by Jim Beaver
Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Philip Bartholomae (story), George Walsh, 1 more credit »
Stars: Theda Bara, James A. Marcus, Lillian Hathaway
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0007325/
The Serpent was a 1916 American silent drama film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Theda Bara. The film based on the short story "The Wolf's Claw", by Philip Bartholomae, and its scenario was written by Raoul A. Walsh. Produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation, The Serpent was shot on location at Chimney Rock, North Carolina, and at the Fox Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It is now considered lost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serpent_(1916_film)
Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein
Raoul Walsh both wrote and directed this typically bosom-heaving Theda Bara melodrama about a Russian peasant girl who is violated by a lecherous Grand Duke (Charles Craig). In classic Bara style, the girl turns into a blood thirsty femme fatale and destroys not only the nobleman, but his entire family. Attempting to pacify local censorship boards, director Walsh betrayed his story slightly by employing the old "it was all a bad dream" denouement, leaving Bara's heroine to peacefully contemplate a future with her nice fiancée, George Walsh, the director's brother. Despite substituting Czarist Russia with what looked suspiciously like Fort Lee, New Jersey, The Serpent emerged as one of Bara's most popular films.
http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-serpent-v109508
