Item #: 32306DV Category: SILENT Format: DVD MPAA Rating: U

Woolly Rating: 6/10 (55 votes)

MEMBER COMMENTS ON THIS VIDEO

Kevin Rayburn

Oct 3, 2006 @ 10:16:16

Lost film should have stayed that way
Despite my header, it's instructive to see this long-lost 1922 melodrama--the only on-screen pairing of silent superstars Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson--just to watch its reputation deflate. Much hype builds around films lost for eight decades; the credentials on this one would make it seem a sure thing. Elinor Glyn was the author, as popular in her day with women readers as Jackie Collins and her likes are now. Sam Wood, the prolific and major Hollywood craftsman, directed, in an early effort. And, of course, there are the aforementioned superstars. Glyn's story is piffle. A young girl (Swanson) is saved from drowning by a nobleman (Rudy). As chance would have it, history repeats itself and she is saved again from a mountaineering disaster by the same dashing Rudy. But, alas, she is betrothed to a fat, and probably impotent, Babbitt-type businessman. Though they meet on the fly, Gloria and Rudy dare not consumate their forbidden love. And both understand this; the marriage bond is sacred. SPOILER: The ludicrous final passages provide the needed deux ex machina required to make the audience go home happy by bringing the handsome young pair together--the businessman husband nobly sacrifices his life on an expedition in Arabia. Conveniently, it lets Rudy traipse around in his old "Sheik" territory; harkening to the 1921 hit that established his stardom. As to individual stylistic traits of the film, Swanson overacts, often hideously, and so does Rudy, but he is such a blank oftetimes that he doesn't seem so bad doing it. The film looks good, often shot outdoors in natural light. Mercifully, it's only 80 minutes long, though the story is not substantial enough even to sustain that modest length. Only a few trivial shots and scenes were lost to print decay; some of the decaying shots have been left in, which was a good decision on the part of the preservationists. It provides viewers a good indication of what's at stake in the battle with time and rot to save the cinematic past. This film is valuable more as a study in popular literary and movie cliches and social mores of its time than as a work of movie art. The bonus materials about the rescue of this film are more interesting than the movie itself. The presenters on this well-done DVD strain to portray the lunatic Danish collector who "saved" the film as some sort of hero. But it's obvious the late collector was just a pack rat who amassed a houseful of films that went rotting in his closets. There's no difference between a film collector who lets a film rot in a closet and someone who isn't a collector letting a film rot in the closet. This film was "saved" only after the kooky collector died. Same story with the Edison 1910 "Frankenstein," obsessively hoarded by Wisconsin eccentric until his recent death. In fairness, there are conscientious collectors out there. I know a few, and they keep their stocks stored in temperature and humidity controlled rooms. At any rate, "Beyond the Rocks" is no masterpiece; I would say it it isn't even good. But I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the conventions of typical silent cinema--but only after you've gotten through the good stuff by Stroheim, Lang, Griffith, Christensen, Chaplin, Keaton and the rest. ** Beyond the Rocks (1922) reviewed 2006 Kevin Rayburn P.S. to J.D.--I'm working on acquiring a copy of "The Story of Temple Drake." Try to get in touch with me if you'd like to see it. -K

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