The Menace to Carlotta
The Menace to Carlotta is a 1914 American silent short drama film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Pauline Bush, William C. Dowlan, Murdock MacQuarrie and Lon Chaney. It was banned by the censor of Quebec on March 19, 1914. The film is now considered lost. Chaney also wrote the film's scenario (his first known screenwriting credit). The film's original working title was "Carlotta, the Bead Stringer". Plot. Carlotta's fiancé Giovanni Bartholdi (Chaney) loses his money gambling with a shady character called "The Vulture" and, now penniless, moves in with Carlotta and her  father and brother Tony. The Vulture talks Giovanni into luring Carlotta to a lonely dive one night, where she is to be kidnapped and sold into the white slave trade. She is saved however by her father and brother. Reception. "Motion Picture News" wrote "The fight between Giovanni and the old father is very realistic, almost too much so." "Moving Picture World" wrote ""A one-reel (sic) offering by Lou (sic) Chaney, who plays the villain's part...The Italian characterizations are good and the setting's in keeping...The photography is fair." (Note the review refers to the film  as a "one-reel offering", while reference sources list it as two reels in length. The same reviewer however also misspelled Chaney's first name).