Critical reception Ī lot of critics had a difficult time with the film's gruesome qualities. The only way they were able to finally put in an end to the rats was through cudgeling them. But the bulldog proved just as futile as he was attacked by the rats. They then decided the second best course of action was to throw in a bulldog. They isolated the majority of the rats and threw a cat in that immediately jumped back out. Once Guy-Blachè shouted 'cut', Karr immediately quipped back in protest and would not agree to do another take.įollowing the wrap of the film there was the discussion about what to do with the rats. However, they quickly grew tired of the food smeared on the rope and began sniffing Karr. In order to get the rats to chew on a rope that ties down Karr's character in the film's later reels, they smeared food on the ropes to hold the rats position for the camera. In Guy Blachè's memoir she recalls Darwin Karr's difficulty with working with the rats. There was a large number of rats used throughout filming and they proved to be an ongoing burden throughout the shoot. The gruesome quality of the film proved to be a challenge for not only Guy-Blachè, but the entire cast and crew. The frame ends immediately after Pedro plants the jewels in Alonzo's home and the monks are quick to punish Alonzo and Isabelle. He hopes to frame him for the mysterious and sudden disappearance of the church's jewels. Pedro is insistent on revenge and applies to the local monastery where Alonzo works in order to frame him. And following the common thematic trajectory of the time, Isabelle is then rescued by the kind and brave medical student who spends his time as a minister for the poor, Alonzo (played by Darwin Karr). It is then that she is attacked by Pedro (played by Fraunie Fraunholz). The first reel begins with a young and pretty girl named Isabelle (played by Blanche Cornwall) sitting upon a hill.

Rather than having unexplained pain and trauma inflicted upon the film's protagonist, Guy built a narrative surrounding the Spanish Inquisition and the film's protagonist fear.

Using Alice Guy-Blachè's adapted screenplay from the Edgar Allan Poe short story, Alice built upon the lucid and dream-like piece of fiction by adding a significant amount of narrative structure to her adapted screenplay.

Ross the pit and the pendulum rar