The Last of the Saxons

A spectacular production dealing with the episode in English history by which Harold, Duke of Wessex, came to the throne in 1066. Then came William the Conqueror, who defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings, where Harold was slain, and William came to the throne on Christmas Day in 1066. The picture has to do with the love affairs of Harold and Lady Edith. The magnificent ceremonies connected with the betrothal are produced with care. Then comes the political necessity of marrying Princess Aldyth. But Harold and Lady Edith keep in communication. She is the one who bids him a mournful farewell just before he starts for the fatal battle, and she it is who searches for his body among the slain after the battle ends. Perhaps this is the most elaborate picture of the week. How accurately it may reproduce the scenes of which it treats the writer cannot say. Yet it has all the appearance of accuracy and it is produced with so much care that it seems safe to accept it as historically correct. Love stories are the same whether the principal characters be royalty or peasants; but the costuming and the staging afford opportunities to acquire knowledge of the life and customs of that time more graphically than would be possible by long reading. Here is where motion pictures perform a service which cannot be equaled. - The Moving Picture World, October 22, 1910