 When Griffith completed his film for release, a rival German version of the story had been made (Claxton owned foreign film rights as well) and was being prepared for release in the US at the same time as Griffith's version.Griffith bought out the US distribution rights to the German version so that it could not conflict with the earning potential of his own film.The film was originally released on 14 reels, although a 12-reel abridged version was made available to theaters a few months later.