East Lynne

Bertram Bracken's East Lynne is one of the few surviving Theda Bara films, a Fox Fort Lee adaptation of Mrs. Henry Wood's 1861 warhorse. Bara, already typed as a vamp, plays against that type as Lady Isabel Carlisle, tricked into believing her husband loves another woman. She flees, is reported dead in a train wreck, and returns in wig and dark glasses as governess to her own children. When her son falls ill and calls for his mother, she drops the disguise; he dies in her arms. Rediscovered in 16mm in 1971 and preserved at MoMA, it shows Bara's range before Hollywood locked her in kohl.