User Reviews

Skill in construction is not a marked feature of "The Bondage of Fear," a five-reel Peerless photoplay, written by Rosalind Ivan, and released by the World Film Corporation. The story is passable and the character drawing quite good, but the best thing about the production is the work of the cast. Ethel Clayton gives personality to a rather colorless heroine and embodies her varying moods with her usual earnestness and skill. The best member of the supporting cast is Arthur Ashley, who plays a low class crook in a most realistic fashion. Frances Miller acts Mandy Lee to the life, and John Bowers, Rockliffe Fellows, Edward Kimball, William Nish. George Morgan and Elsa Bambrick are qualified for their several roles. "The Bondage of Fear" tells of a young girl who is compromised by a former sweetheart after she is happily married. The infatuated man follows her to her lodge in the country and is killed by a burglar in the young wife's bedroom. The secret is kept between the murderer and the woman, for the sake of her reputation. As a consequence the thief resorts to blackmail and drives his victim to the point where she shoots him dead, and so frees herself from the fear of exposure. The settings are well chosen, and the direction, by Travers Vale, is an important factor in the success of the picture. – The Moving Picture World, January 27, 1917