This one presents the Joseph Conrad "Victory" as an early sound vehicle for
Nancy Carrol. That's already twisting the plot, though she does manage the right note in between soiled flower and self respect. The characters come missing any back stories (no beware of pity here) which does get through the plot in an hour but makes it less involving.
A "Where there ain't no ten commandments and a man can raise a thirst" caption (from the lyrics of "Road to Mandalay") takes us into sustained tracking across Warner Oland's Surabaya hell hole bar with our heroine looking worse for wear while singing with Evelyn Selbie's all girl orchestra. Selbie's husband Clarence Wilson is putting moves on Nancy so the orchestra leader tells her to go be nice to the customers.
Richard Arlen shows up alone in his freshly laundered whites and gets token dialogue about "I was always a failure at living with people." Even this defeats his attempts at delivering it with conviction. Dick gets along with Nancy but has the wrong idea when he overhears her telling Wilson to wait for her in her room, not knowing that Oland has set himself up next door with equally lecherous intent and she's foisting them off on one another.
Without any delay Wilson is dead at the foot of the stairs and the sinister trio of Gustrave Von Seyfertitz, George Kotsonaros and Francis McDonald are standing over the body.
To escape, Nancy stows away on the Arlen yacht and arrives at his home ("You're sort of an Island King") where he offers to bank role her passage back to the 'States but, before there's any time for will they or won't they, Oland has told the bad hats that Dick has a fortune in gold and McDonald with a knife strapped to his leg has his passion inflamed by the description of Nancy. Perpetual swarthy bit player McDonald manages the just right amount of flamboyant over take acting honors.
They show up at the island home "We were passing in our sloop and saw your light" and there's brief action where Willy Fung (the Asians are billed below the white performers) figures prominently.
The talented cast and crew wrestling with inexperience of sound manage to make some of the qualities of the Conrad original visible. This one is a kind of wobbly Readers Digest version but still worth a look. It was simultaneously filmed in five languages and slots in between the 1920 Maurice Tourneur-Jack Holt version and the 1940 John Cromwell- Fredric March one.
It's also Wellman's third or fourth sound film, an advance on his 1929 Richard Arlen boxing film MAN I LOVE that I once forked out the cost of a sixteen Millimeter print on and an interesting comparison with the director's other sweaty tropics movie, the 1931 SAFE in HELL - more bamboo curtains and islander music. The finish is rough with some awkward edits but it's interesting to see Wellman coming to terms with the new form - long trackings, sound leading fade ins, Fung tending two new graves on the beach.
A "Where there ain't no ten commandments and a man can raise a thirst" caption (from the lyrics of "Road to Mandalay") takes us into sustained tracking across Warner Oland's Surabaya hell hole bar with our heroine looking worse for wear while singing with Evelyn Selbie's all girl orchestra. Selbie's husband Clarence Wilson is putting moves on Nancy so the orchestra leader tells her to go be nice to the customers.
Richard Arlen shows up alone in his freshly laundered whites and gets token dialogue about "I was always a failure at living with people." Even this defeats his attempts at delivering it with conviction. Dick gets along with Nancy but has the wrong idea when he overhears her telling Wilson to wait for her in her room, not knowing that Oland has set himself up next door with equally lecherous intent and she's foisting them off on one another.
Without any delay Wilson is dead at the foot of the stairs and the sinister trio of Gustrave Von Seyfertitz, George Kotsonaros and Francis McDonald are standing over the body.
To escape, Nancy stows away on the Arlen yacht and arrives at his home ("You're sort of an Island King") where he offers to bank role her passage back to the 'States but, before there's any time for will they or won't they, Oland has told the bad hats that Dick has a fortune in gold and McDonald with a knife strapped to his leg has his passion inflamed by the description of Nancy. Perpetual swarthy bit player McDonald manages the just right amount of flamboyant over take acting honors.
They show up at the island home "We were passing in our sloop and saw your light" and there's brief action where Willy Fung (the Asians are billed below the white performers) figures prominently.
The talented cast and crew wrestling with inexperience of sound manage to make some of the qualities of the Conrad original visible. This one is a kind of wobbly Readers Digest version but still worth a look. It was simultaneously filmed in five languages and slots in between the 1920 Maurice Tourneur-Jack Holt version and the 1940 John Cromwell- Fredric March one.
It's also Wellman's third or fourth sound film, an advance on his 1929 Richard Arlen boxing film MAN I LOVE that I once forked out the cost of a sixteen Millimeter print on and an interesting comparison with the director's other sweaty tropics movie, the 1931 SAFE in HELL - more bamboo curtains and islander music. The finish is rough with some awkward edits but it's interesting to see Wellman coming to terms with the new form - long trackings, sound leading fade ins, Fung tending two new graves on the beach.