New-York tribune., 1921-05-22

story OF "The Woman God Changed"
the Cosmopolitan production which
Hugo Riesenfeld will present at the
Rivoli Theater beginning to-day. The
contrast OF the two viewpoints is
brought cut in the courtroom scenes,
in which young woman is on trial for
her life on the charge of having killed
an old hbertine who had cast her aside
and taken another woman into his
quarters.
The picture shows parts of the audi
ence in the courtroom, and through it's
realistic touches makes the auditor in
the theater feel himself part of the
gripping scenes. Two women discuss
the evidence as it is presented and two
men keenly watch the actions of the
attorneys. 1t is interesting to observe
how the author, Dom Byrne, and the
director, Robert G. Vignola, have
stressed the two different psychologists
the women expressing compassion
for the prisoner, a typical woman's
viewpoint, while the men, are mainly
interested in the battle of legal in
tellects.
The women in the audience in the
courtroom doubt the guilt of the pris-
oner-they insist that young woman
with clear, guileless eyes cannot have
slain the man, yet they, like the jury
at the beginning of the trial, do not
sense that the beautiful prisoner has
undergone a great mental and moral
change since she fired the shot.
The men in the audience have no
eyes for the prisoner and are interest
cd more in the struggle of the lawyers
in the greatest contest in modern
civilization, legal battle with hu-
man life at stake. There is no sym
rathy expressed for the prisoner, but
love for the process which is to decide
her fate
young police officer is the chief
witness in the trial. and his testimony
raises the question whether the
ancient "life for life" may not have
another pretation-whether, if a
person takes one life and saves another,
the slayer has not redeemed himself
for the first sin.
The question raised by the story is
briefly this: Shall woman whose char
acter has changed from weakness and
crime to all that is worth while be pun
ished for a sin done in her evil days T?
Can truly great deed wipe out the
legal stain of an evil one?
The officer testifies that, following
her disappearance on the night of the
Staying, he had been intrusted with
the commission of bringing her back
from the South Seas, whittier she had
been traced. He told the court that he
had found the young woman on the
Tahiti Islands, and, almost against the
inelinations of the governor, had taken
his prisoner on board a vessel destined
for the United States. A few days after
sailing the vessel was struck by q
typhoon, and the shifting cargo set the
ship afire and sent it to the bottom
The two reach an island in safety, his
life having been saved by his prisoner.
His refusal to promise her freedom
after saving his Efe-his strong sense
of duty to the law he had sworn to up
hold-arouses her anger, and she fires
shot that cripples his arm But, al
ready under the influence of the great
natural beauties and the stiffness, her
anger turns to pity when she sees the
gashed arm, and she begs forgiveness
and offers to help him. For many
months the two lived together on the
island, the officer testifies, and few
words passed between officer and prs-
oner. For months they watched for
!. passing ships, and then, reconciled to
I the fact that they must probably live
forever on the island, they marry-not
with the formalities of civilization, but
under the brilliant heavens.
Her character changes under the
rugged life; the wild environment, the
e vast skies and the broad sea instill a
sonse of honor in the woman who. ir
4 the hectic night life in the city, had
been without one. The officers love fol
his prisoner had stilled his own sense
of responsibility to the law, and he
found, he admitted on the stand, thai
Il his determination to bring the womar
before the bar of justice was falling
y away. But. her love for him-a love
grown out Of her admiration for his
sense of honor-had also chaWked her
and when a passing ship is sighted il
I is she who, against the wishes of he1
husband, lights the signal fire that i:
! to be responsible for their return t,
civilization and her facing Judge an,
jury on charge of murder
The problem is laid before the iury
There is no question that a certain
young woman named Anna Jannsel
had killed De Vries, the rich libertine
but the attorney for the defense raises
the question whether the prisoner il
the dock is the same Anna Jannsen VIII,
iired the fatal shot. The psychological
truth and the legal truth are brough
INTO conflict. Not only had her entir
psychology changed on the wild island
but she had found honor for herself an,
had again instilled honor in the ma,
she had married under the South Sc;