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The Hidden City
(1915) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by Francis Ford
Cast: Francis Ford [Lieutenant Johns], Grace Cunard [the princess], Jack Ford (John Ford) [Lieutenant Johns’ brother], Eddie Polo [Minister Poleau]
The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated [Universal-101 Bison]. / Scenario by Grace Cunard. / © 20 March 1915 by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated. Released 27 March 1915. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? The locale of the play is a mythical underground city in India. Lieut. Johns’ sister and company are ready to make a trip across the desert. English soldiers wave good-bye to the travelers as the cavalcade starts. Meanwhile the minister of the hidden city is searching for plunder for his princess. He meets a party of native tribesmen on horseback in the desert and tells them about the English party who have just left the English garrison. The natives decide to capture the English and to hold them for ransom. The English see the natives coming and form a stockade. The English see that they are outnumbered and must soon succumb if they do not obtain help. Lieut. Johns’ brother is sent for help. The garrison is notified and soon fifty soldiers on horseback are galloping across the desert to the rescue of the beleaguered party. With the aid of the garrison soldiers the English soon put the natives to rout. Lieut. Johns chases the minister up to the rocky entrance to a city of which there is visible only a wall of stone with no apparent entrance. Riding up to this wall the English dismount and seek an entrance. While they are prowling about, the minister comes up to the wall, and believing that he is not being watched, presses a secret button which opens the gate. Within the walls the princess of the underground city reclines on a couch. Slaves minister to her wants. While she is being perfumed the minister and his men enter and kneel about her to make their reports. Meanwhile Lieut. Johns has succeeded in getting into the hidden city after pushing the same secret button which enabled the minister to enter. After wandering aimlessly about he sees natives approaching and looks about for a place of concealment. He hides behind a curtain in a doorway and when a native starts to investigate. Lieut. Johns kills him with his sword. While he is trying to put the natives’ clothes upon himself, Lieut. Johns is discovered by the queen’s men and overpowered. Taken before the princess, Johns refuses to bow to her and is taken to the dungeons in the underground city. When Lieut. Johns’ horse returns riderless to the garrison his friends and sister believe him dead. Meanwhile the Princess of the underground city is much impressed by Lieut. Johns’ manly bearing. She visits him in his cell and orders the guard to unloosen his bonds. Then after dressing herself in her most gorgeous robes and jewels she calls in one of her slaves and sends for Lieut. Johns, When the guard brings Johns before her she tries to interest him, intending, after she has charmed him, to have him killed. Lieut. Johns, however, is indifferent to her caresses and she becomes angry. The minister of the hidden city, Poleau, becomes jealous of her attention to Johns. He is much pleased when the Princess, enraged at Johns’ indifference, turns the Englishman over to him. Poleau decides to offer up Lieut. Johns as a sacrifice to the sacred fire. The Princess, now a little sorry for her action, is horrified at the plot of her minister. She sees the native enter and kneel before the sacred fire into which the minister proposes to pitch Lieut. Johns. The Princess decides to save Johns and, going to his cell in the underground dungeon, she opens a secret panel and tells him to fly. Johns thanks her and they shake hands while the Princess, forgetting her royal station, stoops and kisses his band. Johns is hurrying down a secret passageway to safety when he hears the Princess accused of assisting him to escape. Hiding behind the wall, he hears the minister of the city tell the Princess that as she has robbed the fire god of its victim she, herself must be sacrificed. Preparations continue for the sacrifice of the Princess. Lieut. Johns hurriedly makes his escape from the dungeon and then dodges to the city’s walls through which he escapes to the desert. Winding across the desert he finds a caravan led by British soldiers. Johns staggers toward them and tells them about the Princess. The soldiers, led by Lieut. Johns, who is given a horse, gallop up to the city and through the walls. Meanwhile the slaves have put the sacrifice robes upon the Princess. The minister and other natives enter and offer up prayer at the fire pit. Just as the Princess is led up to the pit the English soldiers break into the palace. She jumps into the fire, however, before their arrival and when Lieut. Johns rushes in with his men, too late, he kneels down before the fire pit, heartbroken. The soldiers capture the minister and string him up by the thumbs.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Hidden cities
Listing updated: 12 September 2023.
References: Braff-Short n. 9835; Braff-Universal n. 3534; Edmonds-BigU p. 51; Sinclair-Ford p. 229 : ClasIm-224 p. 43 : Website-IMDb.
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