No classic play, poem or novel was safe from the grasping hands of the early film pioneers in their efforts to find elevating, uplifting stories. Thanhouser made their fair share with "The Mill on the Floss", "Aurora Floyd" etc and "Cymbeline" was a pretty noteworthy attempt to retell Shakespeare's complicated play about the Britains and the Romans encapsulated into 2 reels.
Once again beautiful Florence La Badie is the heroine, the lovely Imogen who secretly marries her love Leonatus (James Cruze) because her evil stepmother is threatening to marry her off to a man she does not love. Leonatus, in turn, is banished to Rome but his boasts of Imogen's fidelity and beauty has a professed friend sneaking to the court to see if he can secretly woo her away from the bragging husband. He steals her bracelet when she is asleep and shows it to Leonatus as proof of Imogen's faithlessness - so of course the incensed husband plots revenge. He lures her to a craggy coastline where he has ordered his servant to murder her but in the true "Snow White" tradition the servant lets her go and, disguised as a boy, she takes shelter in a woodsman's hut where she fails to recognise her long lost brothers!!
When Rome invades Britain she is captured and becomes the Roman general's page - Leonatus has meanwhile joined the Britain army. The battle scenes are not up to much it is true, it looks like the entire Thanhouser stock company is used (which looks to be about 30) but on the plus side the costumes are wonderfully authentic.
Once again beautiful Florence La Badie is the heroine, the lovely Imogen who secretly marries her love Leonatus (James Cruze) because her evil stepmother is threatening to marry her off to a man she does not love. Leonatus, in turn, is banished to Rome but his boasts of Imogen's fidelity and beauty has a professed friend sneaking to the court to see if he can secretly woo her away from the bragging husband. He steals her bracelet when she is asleep and shows it to Leonatus as proof of Imogen's faithlessness - so of course the incensed husband plots revenge. He lures her to a craggy coastline where he has ordered his servant to murder her but in the true "Snow White" tradition the servant lets her go and, disguised as a boy, she takes shelter in a woodsman's hut where she fails to recognise her long lost brothers!!
When Rome invades Britain she is captured and becomes the Roman general's page - Leonatus has meanwhile joined the Britain army. The battle scenes are not up to much it is true, it looks like the entire Thanhouser stock company is used (which looks to be about 30) but on the plus side the costumes are wonderfully authentic.