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: New Yorker Video
: Silent, Silent Dramas
: 85 min.
: English, French, Dutch
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| After all these years....
by highgrove
June 3, 2007 - 11:19 AM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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This was one of the films that they had given up for lost, till it was found among 2,000 films accumulated by an eccentric private collector whose films wound up in the hands of the Netherlands film museum. They were hoping to find some Dutch silents; what they found was Beyond the Rocks. They commented in one of the documentaries on the disc that nitrate can last 100 years, which shows it's never too late to hope...but the documentary which showed before and after stages in preservation, plus a couple of badly deteriorated sequences that were almost too far gone to rescue, shows that time is indeed running out.
This is an awesome disc. I gave it a 10 because of all the bonus goodies on the disc: not just this film but another Valentino film, The Delicious Little Devil (1919), with Mae Murray, loads of stills, press kits for both films, the text of Elinor Glyn's book, documentaries on the discovery and preservation of the film (one even has Swanson singing, "Love, Your Magic Spell is Everywhere", the song she sang in her first sound film, The Trespasser (1929), a wire recording of Swanson reminiscing about her life in the mid-50s, and loads more. The only comparable disc for a silent in terms of an equal amount of goodies is the 1924 version of Peter Pan.
If I could have rated the film separately, I would have given it an 8. Valentino is one of those stars who is ageless and could belong to any period, like Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, or Clara Bow. Unfortunately, I don't see Swanson as being of that group, at least not in this picture. The makeup and hairdo was not that flattering, and she looked older than Valentino.
Still, she did manage to overcome the very unflattering appearance and create some good onscreen chemistry--definitely was worth seeing and a rediscovered classic. It also makes you mourn the 90% of silent films that are forever lost...granted, there were probably a fair number of clunkers among them, but each time a lost gem like this resurfaces, it makes us all the more aware of what was so carelessly lost or in some cases, deliberately destroyed for the silver content or junked due to lack of storage space or the thought that it no longer had any audience appeal.
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| Swanson & Valentino: Together at Last
by Gwenhwyvar
September 19, 2006 - 4:31 PM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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The casting is a film buff's dream. Swanson and Valentino were the archetypical leading lady and man of silent cinema and they made only one film together. Lost for decades, a complete print was discovered in the Netherlands, held by a private collector. The print is in surprisingly good condition considering its age and the fact that it did not receive the professional care that an archive would have given it.
I came in with low expectations since most contemporary reviews, while acknowledging the stars' charms, dismissed it as a routine melodrama. I was pleasantly surprised by this light, romantic confection. Like cotton candy, it's sweet and airy and it melts away after an instant but what an instant!
Valentino and Swanson are attractive young lovers. The problem: she's married to a man decades her senior. The scenario finds every way it can to get the stars dressed up in romantic period costumes and send them to exotic locals (this being a Paramount picture- rather a tightfisted outfit at the time- the exotic locals are restricted to painted backdrops and whatever could be faked in California but it's the thought that counts!)
To say that Swanson and Valentino are charming is redundant. Any silent movie fan worth her salt knows they will be charming. Their chemistry is good and they make the most of the wafer-thin, Elinor Glyn-written plot. The direction is unimaginative but it gets the job done.
I really did feel sorry for Swanson's elderly husband. No good end can come of being stuck between two superstars but it doesn't seem entirely fair since his only crime was marrying a younger woman and not being as handsome as Valentino.(By the way, the official review gives away the ending, anyone can see it coming from miles away but still- So, if you want to be surprised, don't read the official review.)
More on the technical side: There are certain points where the nitrate decay is pretty bad but for the most part, the print is in good shape and the restoration is good. The soundtrack is a little modern for my taste but it is well-arranged and has some very pretty melodies.
Conclusion: A must-see for silent films fans. Welcome back, Beyond the Rocks. Now that we've seen you, we know how sorely you have been missed. Now if only they could find the last reel of Sadie Thompson... |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 8.00)
9 Votes
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