A Romany Lass

James Knight has left the army because he was captured by East African warriors and tortured and lost his nerve. Now his father and everyone in the Scottish town he lives in thinks him a coward, even at the golf club. As the movie begins, his father, Charles Rock, has given permission for a gypsy tribe to camp on his land. They're led by Marjorie Villis, their convent-trained queen, who has to come down hard on her fiance, Bernard Dudley, who likes to beat up dogs and small children. Naturally Mr. Knight and Miss Villis fall in love and... well, there were gaps in the film, but nothing that made the story impossible to follow. It was, however, utterly predictable and if the individual actors were all right, the groups were poorly directed.

It's a title-heavy stereotype-filled production, redeemed somewhat by some nice camerawork by the uncredited crew. Most of the talent had some history in British film production -- the writer was Reuben Gillmer, who also wrote ON THE BANKS OF ALLAN WATER, which I've reviewed elsewhere. He died in 1920. Few others' film careers survived much beyond 1920 and lead James Knight was playing bit roles in minor films up to his death in 1948. British film production collapsed in the early 1920s, and the Government passed laws mandating that theaters' show contain a certain proportion of British production in 1927. It may have saved the industry, but it didn't help the quality. It may account for the re-issue of this film in 1928.