The Captive

DeMille was fresh off a first year packed full of Westerns, informing the style in this film taking the then-topical setting of war in the Balkans to the world of improbable romance and action. You know the moment they meet the peasant lass will warm to the handsome young Turkish officer assigned to help around the farm as a prisoner of war eventually, but it's about getting there affably in very pretty hillsides. Also an exciting siege or two on the farmhouse, and a frying pan mirror shot.

The Captive (1915) is one of those lucky pictures that was presumed lost and eventually got preserved for re-release 100 years after it's original premier. A missing piece among Cecil B. DeMille's early films. And it turns out to be fine melodrama. Perhaps nothing exceptional for the period, but respect for not choosing one of the more glamorous conflicts to set it's story. Blanche Sweet looks the part and House Peters never looked more handsome.