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For the Heart of a Princess
(1913) United States of America
B&W : Three reels
Directed by Harry C. Mathews
Cast: Elsie Albert [the princess]
Venus Features production; distributed by Warner’s Features, Incorporated. / Released October 1913. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 18 October 1913, page ?] No exhibitor who takes this extremely pretty picture will feel ashamed of it for his patrons’ sake or be sorry in any way. It tells a story from the Arabian Nights, one of the cleanest and sweetest of them all, and was produced by H.C. Mathews, to whom, with the good help of his camera man, all the credit for the offering’s charm we believe is due. That it is naturally acted is true; but the leading players do not monopolize the good things in it. The fact is that it is marvelously illustrative; so much so, that if a painter could put on canvas Mr. Mathews’ galaxy of scenes and keep all their grace and animation, a thing art is always striving to do, he would make a fine reputation. The truest, most Oriental things in it do not even come from the leading players, but from the special players, that dancing girl in the opening scene, that soothsayer who weaves magic with his arms over the smoking cauldron; they and their kind made the picture what it is, they and the sets and Oriental backgrounds. There are a few discordant notes in the three reels; but they are very few. That dragging off of the slave girl from the marketplace was done as awkwardly as possible. Some “shark” on Oriental architecture may find “breaks” in the backgrounds; but we saw none. The picture delighted us entirely; we think it lovely. Mr. Mathews more often does good work than not.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 26 October 2022.
References: Tarbox-Lost p. 141 : Website-IMDb.
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