This is really a fine film. How completely and astonishingly it morphed from a light story about a playboy artist and his spoiled family—into a powerful and deeply moving tale displaying the best and the worst in humanity. And the transformation of the individual characters was just as amazing.
I was impressed by how well the film captured the pampered and jaded life of the rich in
fin de siècle Europe and then the falling apart of it all with the horror and disillusionment of the coming of the great war. World War I had only been over three years when this film was made, so all this would have been very fresh in the minds of everyone involved in the production of it, not to mention the audience.
So many moving scenes…
The whole sequence in which the village is destroyed is extraordinarily powerful and poignant. Ingram did not pull any punches in showing the effect of the war on the civilians. Some scenes were especially hard to watch. And there was no doubt as to who the good guys and the bad guys were here. The “dreaded Hun” stereotyping of the German soldiers and officers was definitely there, as might be expected in an American-made film in 1921!
And the scene in which Julio discovers Marguerite nursing Laurier is extremely well-done and moving, including the beautiful closeup and title
here. And equally good is the scene in which Julio and Desnoyers reuinte. (I liked the gold tinting there.)
But the one that finally really got to me is when Desnoyers kneels and kisses his son’s name on the cross. Oh, my goodness…
Characters / Actors:
Valentino was really excellent in this, with a strong and unique on-screen presence. And again, as in
Blood and Sand, two competing sides are shown, making him a character of depth. I don't understand why the tango scene seems to be so iconic, though. That to me was probably the least interesting part of the film.
(I did like her shoes, though, Kitty.
)
Alice Terry was excellent, as well. In the early going, I didn’t think she was exactly right for Marguerite and maybe expected someone more dramatic, darkly alluring, vampish… But then later, she turned out to be
exactly the right actress. considering the evolution of the character.
Nigel De Brulier was excellent as the mysterious Tchernoff. Speaking of which: who is this mysterious, bearded figure? Or
what is he? Is he a seer of some kind, or is he just unusually prescient? There are some fantastic closeups of his and Julio’s faces during that scene when he is showing the book with the Dürer drawings. His function seems to be much like that of the philosopher in
Blood and Sand, doesn’t he?
Alan Hale as Karl: So! This is the famous Alan Hale, whose son would one day be one of seven stranded castaways on an uncharted desert isle (and would be condemned to wear the same skipper’s hat and blue shirt into all eternity.)
And last, but
certainly not least, the monkey.
(There's a banana for him.) He was always there for comic relief, just when you needed him.
On this copy:
Excellent print, and the tinting was a often very effective, but also sometimes a little overdone, to me, especially the purple one. I’m not a huge fan of a large amount of tinting, anyway—I used not to like any at all—but I think it enhances if applied sparingly. The red was good for the apocalyptic scenes, and blue for the battle scenes.
Now to talk some about the score: As Kitty mentioned, it was really excellent, though a hodgepodge. There are good hodgepodges and less good ones, and this one was top-drawer.
Again, that dramatic music heard at the very beginning and in sections throughout is from Mahler’s 6th Symphony. I thought that was really effective, and also was appropriate, considering the subject matter. Mahler wrote that piece in 1907, and was deeply concerned about what was happening in Europe. I’ve seen a lot of comments that he sensed the tragedy that was to come and that you can hear that in the music. (One reviewer of a recording referred to it as a “rotting dread”). I don’t know if Mahler was that good at predicting the future, but the music certainly does fit.
I liked that the works used were listed in end credits. And by the way, the extraordinarily beautiful music underneath those credits is the adagio movement from that same Mahler symphony.
I guess you can tell I’m a rabid fan of Mahler’s music.
This photo is from 1907, when he was about to leave Vienna and come to the US to take over the New York Philharmonic.
- IMG_4621.jpeg (97.32 KiB) Viewed 2896 times
The only part of the score I’m not quite sure about the sung “Ach! Du lieber Augustin” in the castle scene
, but I guess it did fit the scene pretty well. But that was a little jarring after the tender scene between Julio and Marguerite.
Well, all in all, this started the Watchfest off with a bang didn’t it?
Kitty wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:00 pm
Hey, did you guys notice the people walking back and forth, seen through the window up high? I love that extra bit of atmosphere, telling us that this little dive is underground.
Yes, I did notice that detail! I thought that was cool, and gave a completely different atmosphere to the scene.
Kitty wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:00 pm
…but I was hoping this was going to be another Blood and Sand.
In what way?
Kitty wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:00 pm
By the way, was that supposed to be Jesus when the father is mourning Julio?
I kind of wondered that, too, considering that remark about knowing them all. But surely not!
Kitty wrote: ↑Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:00 pm
I wouldn't watch this again, only because I'm not a lover of war movies, but I think it ended up doing what it intended to do. It had some pretty intense drama at some points, and I wonder what audiences of the day thought of the random display of nudity?
Yeah, I’m not ordinarily a big fan of war movies, either, but I did like the human drama here, and especially how the conflict seemed to bring out the best in some of the characters—that was inspirational, in a way.
On the nudity, there must not have been any uproar. There wasn’t much, and it was in an artistic setting [well supposedly].
