Haunted House - 1921 - USA

Haunted House - 1921 - 6/10

 
Harried bank clerk Buster takes the rap for counterfeit currency, then a holdup!
He flees – into the notorious haunted house, actually a front for counterfeiters.
A film by half.  First half, in the bank, is repetitive and the glue joke is used to death.
Once the setting shifts to the spook house, look out.
Gag after gag after gag, and the pace is hectic.
Well preserved prints out there, too, and nicely tinted.

Destiny - 1921 - Germany

Destiny - 1921 - 6/10
AKA - Der Müde Tod

Enroute to the village, the coach picks up a black garbed man.
Also aboard are a young couple, engaged, and very much in love.
Inside the inn, the caped man follows, and the girl soon realizes her fiancé has disappeared.
The man is actually God’s messenger, Death, and her fiancé’s time had run out.

 
“Each candle is a life,”  he explains.  “Some longer than others.  His was short.”
He permits her to intervene in three fates:  Persia, Venice, Cathay.
Fritz Lang film is measured, perhaps sluggish, but has impressive sets and visuals.

Gipsies - 1921 - Czechoslovakia

Gipsies - 1921 - 6/10
AKA - Cikáni

Giacomo plies the canals of Venice, dreaming of his betrothed, Angelina.
Deck mates warn him, “Trust not fortune nor women, both are deceitful and changeable.”
Thus, when the handsome, wealthy stranger appears, so disappears Angelina.
Giacomo, forlorn, gazes out at the empty waters.  End of Prelude.

 
Time passes and the narrative fragments into several overblown stories.
Orphaned children, accused women, jealous menfolk.
Melodramatic acting, flailing arms, contorted facial expressions.
Wonderful restoration of this obscure Czechoslovakian Silent.
Modern score serves the story.

Shattered - 1921 - Germany

Shattered - 1921 - 5/10
AKA - Scherben

 
Bahnwärter is a railman, he checks the crossties and rails daily.
He lives an isolated life with his wife and daughter.
Days are dull, the family is poor, yet they seem happy.
An inspector arrives and spends four days with them.
While Bahnwärter walks the tracks, the inspector rapes the daughter.
A distraught mother races outside into freezing winter.
Claustrophobic melodrama suffers from glacial pacing and overwrought acting.

The Crucified - 1921 - Czechoslovakia

The Crucified - 1921 - 5/10
AKA - Ukrizovaná

 
The soldier and best friend priest are both smitten with the innkeeper’s daughter.
The priest has his vows, so the soldier scores, and the daughter wins “Baby Jackpot!”
Out of wedlock, plus she’s Jewish, he’s not, what happens next?  Yeah, the heave ho.
This is dreary throughout, and underpinned with 1848 Revolutions that seem endless.
Numerous battles, characters come and go.
The print I saw was nicely restored, but the music score was too modern.
Electronic blips, swirls, pulsations, ambiant groans.  An overall distraction.

Love Never Dies - 1921

Love Never Dies - 1921 - 6/10

 
Boy meets girl, boys bests rival, boy marries girl, the end.
Nope, that’s the first fifteen minutes, and from there on the story takes strange turns.
Such as, the new husband’s mother turns out to be a woman of ill repute.
So the son has made something of himself.  So what?  The stain, the moral outrage.
The setting is the South, the time is pre-automobile.  Honor matters.
Creaky King Vidor melodrama grew on me, and it is enhanced by a train sequence and rafting finale.
That said, around the 45” point, there is a leap in continuity.  A reel is missing.
Not to worry, one can quickly deduce the missing narrative, and the story will make sense by the abrupt end.

The Wildcat - 1921 - Germany

The Wildcat - 1921 - 5/10
AKA - Die Bergkatze

Early Lubitsch film stars Pola Negri as rowdy leader of rural bandits.
The local military post does not deal with them, being preoccupied with the arrival of a dashing ladykiller.
So will the untamed vixen and the handsome lieutenant …
Visually interesting interiors are packed with curves and curlicues.
The pace of this is manic throughout, yet despite a few laugh out loud chuckles, most of the humor is farce.
Slapstick, cartoon antics better suited to pre-schoolers.