Although most sources credit George Fitzmaurice with the direction of this film, Wid's lists Frank H. Crane as director. The film is listed under both directors' names in the 1918 MPSD.
       The picture was adapted from Carolyn Wells’ novel of the same name, published in January 1917.
       The 22 December 1917 Exhibitors Herald included the following “official cut-outs made by the Chicago Board of Censors”: “sword thrust from behind bushes; Jap overpowering policeman; shooting of chauffeur.”
       A review in the 27 October 1917 Motion Picture News by Peter Milne described the film as follows: “Mrs. Vernon Castle’s second Pathe picture produced by Astra is a murder mystery story, swift of movement like its predecessor and rich in thrilling, melodramatic situations. The first reel is employed in casting suspicion on various characters so that in the second, after the murder has been committed, any one of them might be accused of the crime on the grounds of one sort or another. The unraveling of the mystery, which includes proving the innocence of the hero and the guilt of the villain, is done after a clever fashion to the tune of rattling fast action…The only prominent plot point that might possibly be cited for adverse criticism is embodied in the fact that the picture moves backward as much as it moves forward. There is a constant supply of evidence produced by various characters throughout the entire five reels necessitating the use of the Pathe traveling disolove [sic]. Still, whereas this might serve to lessen the interest in a picture of merely average strength the rapid trend of ‘The Mark of Cain’ serves to discountenance to same small measure, even this bit of technical structure.”
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant.