Surviving by the skin of its emulsion (one compromised, but watchable print from the Czech Archives), this ten-reel film of the Alexandre Dumas perennial, from little-remembered director Emmet J. Flynn (washed out of the biz by 1929) and much-remembered silent star John Gilbert (washed out of the biz by 1934), is exceptional. More of the story than you’ll find in many other versions, smartly structured with Part One covering the future Count’s unjust political arrest & escape; and Part Two his return in disguise to seek revenge on the three powerful Parisians who wronged him. A big cast (Renée Adorée in the second of nine films with Gilbert, ‘stache-less here) & a production that’s continuously exciting & easy to follow (though you can almost feel Flynn straining to move his camera more than was being done at the time, compensating with fast edits & tight closeups). Gilbert a compelling presence over four decades of melodrama taking him ship to shore; engagement party to dungeon; waterlogged escape to island treasure-chest; finally Paris politics, finance & society to a series of exposé shockers. A big success in '22, Rex Ingram over at pre-M-G-M Metro obviously paying attention before next year’s SCARAMOUCHE. (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2013/03/scaramouche-1923.html) This superb 2008 restoration, a double Flicker Alley DVD with King Vidor’s BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT/’28*, with an excellent Neal Kurz piano accompaniment (listen at the Palace of Peers Court for Saint-Saëns’ 2nd piano concerto) could look even better with the latest digital techniques. The film good enough to be worth the cost & effort.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *While BARDELYS is the A-side here, both films essential viewing. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/08/bardelys-magnificent-1928.html OR: See a delightful, if painfully thin John Gilbert before his breakthru @ FOX in Mary Pickford’s HEART O’ THE HILLS/’19. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/heart-o-hills-1919.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: You can reduce ‘blasting’ on the surviving print by slightly cutting Brightness levels.
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