The Crimson Sabre
The Crimson Sabre is an American silent movie produced by Thanhauser, released on 30 november 1915 (in USA). Black & White. 2 reels.
Survival status: unknown.
Cast
- Hilda Brown, the girl : Isolde C. Illian
- Winston Holmes, her sweetheart : George Marlo
- Gerald Lafitte, the rival : Robert Whittier
- Rhoades, the detective : Hector Dion
- Chief of Police : Daniel Keleher (as Dave Keleher)
- Laffitte's Valet : Charles S. Gould (?)
Reviews
The Crimson Sabre — Thanhouser
A miraculous piece of detective work is The Crimson Sabre, a two-part Thanhouser drama, for release on the regular Mutual Program, November 30th. Hector Dion impersonates Sherlock Holmes, who, for the sake of a girl and her lover, burrows into a murder mystery and tracks down the real criminal. The girl's sweetheart, played by George Marlo, has been wrongly accused. He is exonerated, after an intensely dramatic scene in which the actual murderer stands, self-convicted, in the very spot where he had felled his victim. An old love affair of the dead man plays an important part in the chain of evidence; while the romance of Winston Holmes and Hilda Brown ends in happy fulfilment.
Winston Homes is decoyed to the home of Gerald Lafitte, his unsuccessful rival in love, by a promise that the latter will put him in touch with a proposition which will mean big money. Lafitte, meanwhile, robs his own safe, and sends for a detective. When Holmes arrives, he finds that the "proposition" is: "Give up Hilda Brown, or go to jail." For a despairing moment, the young man sinks his face in his hands. He is roused by a cry of horror. In the doorway stands the detective and Lafitte's valet. On the couch, his head cloven in twain, lies his enemy, a sabre, crimson with blood, at his side. A few minutes before Holmes had been absent-mindedly admiring the strange weapon as it hung on the wall above the couch. He is arrested for the murder. Rhoades, the detective, is not convinced even by apparently inclusive evidence. He finds in Lafitte's study the money and jewels cleverly removed by the dead man from his own safe, also a photograph of a beautiful girl with a theatrical signature across the corner. The detective visits a theatrical agency, where he learns that the original of the picture had been Lafitte's sweetheart. Rhoades studies the mechanism by which the sabre had been so attached to the wall that it could be swung out over the head of an unconscious victim and dropped with fatal effect. A photograph of the missing actor forms another link. Rhoades proves to the detective force that Lafitte's valet is none other than the father of the deserted actress, whose death he at last has avenged in the murder of her betrayer. Winston Holmes is acquitted, and he and Hilda marry.
