Confessions of a Queen

Victor Sjöström's third feature for MGM has Lewis Stone as King of Illyria. He's a high-living man whose mistress, Helena D'Algy, has him brand her the evening before his wedding to Alice Terry. She's a high-minded woman who seems to have sex once with the King in order to get him an heir. But politics ensue, and so does revolution, and he abdicates. They move to Paris.

Only 41 minutes of the original 64 survive. Among the missing sections are part of their escape through Miss D'Algy's house, and much of the end. The surviving footage looks like it's from Daudet's novel, with little of Sjöström's usual technique on display. Miss Terry spends much of his time looking angry and disdainful; Stone seems jovial in an insincere manner. If there's much subtext to the story, it seems that it likely resides in the missing portions.