On the Altar of Patriotism - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

Lieutenant Otto is fascinated with Eleanor, a beautiful dancer, who unites beauty of person with unusual grace. While he is engaged in a charming tete-a-tete with Eleanor in the embassy, of which he is the military attaché, an important ...See moreLieutenant Otto is fascinated with Eleanor, a beautiful dancer, who unites beauty of person with unusual grace. While he is engaged in a charming tete-a-tete with Eleanor in the embassy, of which he is the military attaché, an important conference is going on among the embassy officials. It is decided that, in view of the present strained conditions existing between their country and the nation to which they are accredited, that it is necessary to obtain all the information possible concerning frontier fort No. 2, and that the work should be entrusted to Lieutenant Otto. A messenger is sent for him, interrupts him in his charming little party .and brings him into the conference. His mission is made clear to him an order for unlimited funds given him, and the means by which he is to obtain the information desired left to his judgment. Having heard that the general who is the commander-in-chief of the fort in question is very susceptible to feminine flattery, the lieutenant determines to enlist the support of his beautiful country-woman, the dancer. He explains his plans to her and receives her hearty co-operation. They decide to put the plans into execution at a ball given by the commander-in-chief that very week, and to which they have received invitations. At the ball Eleanor seeks an introduction to the general and then sets out to fascinate him. She so far succeeds that the amorous officer asks her to come and dance for him at the fort some evening. The lieutenant and Eleanor then adopt a perilous scheme. He drives her in his motor car, one evening to the general's house. From concealment they see him through a window working upon plans of the fortress and consider the time ripe for their attempt. Eleanor goes to the door, is admitted, and sends in the fan upon which the general wrote a few lines of invitation the night of the ball. The general is in a quandary. On the one hand he wishes to see his charmer, while on the other, he is reluctant to leave his blueprints. He finally yields to his inclinations and admits her to his apartments. While she is holding the commandant's attention in the dining room with her dancing, the lieutenant enters the officer's study and proceeds to copy the blueprints. His work done, he starts to leave, but his sleeve catches in a loaded pistol which is lying on the desk and it falls to the floor and is discharged. In the next room the noise is of course heard and the general at once starts to rush for the study, in spite of the detaining efforts of the girl. He sees the figure vanishing from the balcony and fires after it. The girl escapes from the house, pursued by the general, but the motorcar is waiting and she and the lieutenant speed away in it. The general at once rushes for the telephone and the frontier guard is warned. As the flying car approaches the boundary line it is fired upon by the soldiers. It passes in a shower of bullets, is pursued, but finally escapes across the frontier. Later, in the hospital, in the presence of several of the embassy corps and high officials, the lieutenant and the girl, mortally wounded in the escape, die as their grateful countrymen solemnly salute them for their heroic deed. Written by Moving Picture World synopsis See less