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Select two cult films to compare side by side.
In the Balance Synopsis
The actress is on her way to visit the Prince in his castle when she is stranded on a lonely road by an accident to her motor car. The Hillman happens along and takes her to Peak Hall. He is still young and handsome, but marked by the stern fanatical belief of his family that no member of it ever should leave the hills. In an exchange of confidence, the Hillman warns the actress not to visit the dissolute Prince, and she in turn tells him that for once he should try the broader life of the cities. Both heed the other's advice. She returns to the city, and he, in a brief period, follows. The Prince, still pursuing the actress, seeks to entangle the Hillman by throwing a notorious dancer in his path, but fails. Strangeway, the Hillman, proposes to Louise, the actress, but she withholds her answer. His brother comes from the hills to reclaim him, but his mission is vain. Again the Hillman proposes to Louise, who is always in the company of the Prince, and this time is accepted. Angered at his apparent loss of the actress, the Prince makes a scandalous remark about her at his club, which is resented with blows by the Hillman, whose love is all but crushed, when hurrying to Louise she admits what the Prince said is true. The Hillman returns to Peak Hill where a few months later as he is reading in a paper of the engagement of the actress and the Prince, she arrives at his home. She assures him that she is good, not bad, and that she did make the promise to the Prince when she believed he loved her, and both the Hillman and his brother receive her as one of them.
The Hawk Synopsis
The Hawk, Count George De Dazetta, preys upon society with the aid of his beautiful wife. She seems to be in love with a young French nobleman, who is the real aggressor in this triangle. De Dazetta finds that the young nobleman's love for his wife is changing her for the better, that she begins to abhor his gambling profession and his inroads upon society. However, he continues to use her beauty as a lure to his gaming tables and wins heavily. In the meantime the nobleman breaks with a young woman aristocrat whom his mother wishes him to wed. During a transaction with an American from whom he borrows money to repay his gaming losses to De Dazetta the nobleman learns of the Hawk's love for his wife, and that she is helping her husband to win. Marina, the wife, washes her hands of the whole earning enterprise and is accused of infidelity by her husband, who tried to kill the nobleman. Failing, he leaves, and the nobleman protects the wife while attempting to locate the gambler and get his consent to a divorce. Finally this is effected, and Marina herself pleads for the divorce, that is until she learns that De Dazetta is now penniless, having lavished his every cent upon her and really loves her, and has consented to give her up only because he thinks it best for her future welfare. Her womanhood comes to the surface and she goes to him, renouncing the nobleman, her love for the latter having been without sin throughout.
"In the Balance" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "The Hawk" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
In the Balance