By the Law [DVD] [1926]

Suehne was but one of several alternate titles for the 1926 Russian film Dura Lex (others include By the Law and Atonement). Based on the Jack London short story The Unexpected, the plot gets under way when an Alaskan gold miner shoots his two partners when they refuse to give him a share of their latest haul. One of the partners is killed, but the other is able to wound the assailant. The surviving partner and his wife decide to keep his would-be murderer alive long enough to deliver him to the Law. Alas, cold weather is about to set in, so the partner and his spouse are forced to put up the wounded man for the winter. Unable to endure the long wait, the miner finally cracks, begging his "hosts" to put an end to his misery by hanging him. Almost unendurably brutal, Suehne benefits from the excellent performances of its actors, and by the location photography, which looks convincingly "Alaskan" even though it was lensed entirely in Russia.~Hal Erickson