The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Tragedy – 1907

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Kitty
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The Unwritten Law: A Thrilling Drama Based on the Thaw-White Tragedy – 1907

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I watched this 13 minute short, because I thought Gene Gauntier was in it. I was wrong, and there seems to be some confusion as to who this woman is who plays Evelyn Nesbit in this documentary. Most sources site Evelyn Nesbit as playing herself in this one-- she was married to the millionaire Harry K. Thaw, who shot and killed Stanford White. White was a renowned architect much older than Nesbit, and knowing the history between White and Nesbit, Thaw had been extremely jealous. This murder was big news, and the photoplay loved to try to play on that sensationalism. Personally, looking at pictures of Evelyn, and looking at the better scenes where her face is clearer than other times, I believe that she did do this one film with Lubin. She would not appear in another film until 1914. She was mainly a supermodel and stage actress.
The photoplay I saw had an excellent piano score and synchronized sound when Harry K. Thaw shot Stanford White. The music at the last half of the film was moody and perfect, and I thought that the dream sequence that was projected on the prison cell window was really great.
Rating 6/10
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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