''The She-Devil'' is a 1918 American silent

romantic drama film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

directed by

J. Gordon Edwards Gordon Edwards may refer to: * Gordon Edwards (scientist) (born 1940), Canadian scientist and nuclear consultant * Gordon Edwards (cricketer) (born 1947), British cricketer and engineer * Gordon Cameron Edwards (1866–1946), Canadian politician * ...

and starring

Theda Bara Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fatal ...

. This was the last film in which Alan Roscoe starred with Theda Bara; they appeared in six films together starting with '' Camille''.

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, Lolette (Bara), a

siren Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology that lured sailors to their deaths. Places * Sir ...

in a Spanish village, falls in love with travelling artist Maurice Taylor (Roscoe) although he does not desire her and makes up her mind to win him. She flaunts all of the other men in the village when they try to woo her, and, after Maurice leaves for Paris, she lures the Tiger (McDaniel) to win her by money and jewels. He robs the stage coach, and while he sleeps she robs him of everything and leaves. She finds Maurice in Paris and takes up her abode with him. Lolette overdresses and attracts undesirable attention. Maurice takes her to see the Spanish dancers at the theater. She leaps onto the stage and surpasses the professional dancers. The Tiger is in the audience and follows them home. While Maurice is absent, the Tiger enters the room and forces Lolette to give him the jewels. But before he leaves, she turns the tables on him and gets the jewels back while the Tiger escapes. Lolette signs to dance for every manager in Paris, and Maurice is forced to take her back to the small village to live in retirement until this breach of business contracting etiquette can be forgotten. There she once again meets the Tiger, who imprisons Maurice. In order to save her lover, Lolette flirts with the Tiger and persuades him to give a banquet and forgive her. She gets him intoxicated and binds him to a chair, releases her lover, and they escape.

Cast

as Lolette *

Albert Roscoe Alan Roscoe (born John Albert Rascoe; August 23, 1888 – March 8, 1933) was an American film actor of the silent film, silent and Sound film, early talking film eras. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1933. Roscoe was bo ...

as Maurice Taylor * Frederick Bond as Apollo * George A. McDaniel as The Tiger

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''The She-Devil'' was subject to restrictions and cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut, in Reel 2, of the first holdup scene and, in Reel 5, of the first holdup scene.

Preservation status

This film is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

References

External links