Unchastened Woman, The

3026. THE UNCHASTENED WOMAN (1925-USA). With THEDA BARA. During the second decade of the 20th-century, Theda Bara (whose name is an anagram of “Arab Death”) was the movies’ reigning sex star and original screen “vamp.” Her mysterious and alluring appearance dazzled audiences. She specialized in playing exotic femme fatales and chilling mystery womenÑeven though her real name was Theodosia Goodman and she was the daughter of a Cincinnati tailor! This is her next-to-last feature film and one of only two that still exist. Bara plays Caroline Knollys, a young married woman who at the outset is told by her doctor that she soon will be preseniing her husband Hubert with a baby. Caroline is overjoyed. She descends the stairs of her townhouse to tell Hubert the good news, only to find him in the arms of his flirtatious secretary, Emily Madden. In an instant, her elation turns to gloom. By the following morning, she has decided that she is not going to tell Hubert of his impending fatherhood. In the company of her Aunt Susan, she will set sail for Paris where she will have her baby. “I refuse to bargain for his loyalty and faithfulness,” Caroline tells her aunt, adding that Hubert has forfeited the right to know that he is to be a father. Susan tells her niece that it is “madness to leave him here with that Madden person.” Responds Caroline, “Then there’s method in my madness!” Her goal is to make her husband suffer as she has, and the result is an engrossing and entertaining drama of vengeance reaped by a woman scorned. “Silent” film with music score. 55 minutes. “Silent” Melodrama