Victory/Wicked Darling

Rating:
Summary: Lon's Earliest Surviving Double Feature.
Review: 1919 was a pivotal year for Lon Chaney. His appearance in THE MIRACLE MAN (now lost) was the turning point in his career. It was also the year that he made the two films showcased on this new release from Image Entertainment. This DVD features two of the silent era's greatest directors in Maurice Tourneur and Tod Browning. Chaney's longtime collaboration with Browning would really bear fruit in the late 1920's but THE WICKED DARLING marked the first time that they worked together. Browning's vivid directorial touch is readily apparent in the realistic lowlife settings and the colorful characters who populate them. The film was originally made as a vehicle for Priscilla Dean, Universal's big female star at the time. She was perky, resourceful, and surprisingly modern in her movements and expressions. Virtually all of her films are lost which is why she's forgotten today. This film was long thought lost until a single print turned up in Holland. Although missing some frames and scarred by mildew in places, the surviving 35mm footage looks remarkably good. The second feature, VICTORY, looks close to how it must have looked when it was first released with a crisp, clear picture and color tints although I wonder if some footage is missing as the film seems rather abrupt in places. Based on a lesser Joseph Conrad novel, the film was directed by Maurice Tourneur who was one of the great visual stylists of the silent era. His use of light and shadow in the scene with Chaney and Wallace Beery anticipates film noir by 20 years (his son Jacques Tourneur would make several notable film noirs in the 1940's). He began his career as a painter in France and created several painting like effects in his movies. Check out his 1920 version of LAST OF THE MOHICANS and you'll see what I mean. Lon gives two very different performances in these movies that really showcase his genius. While both are criminals they are as different in characterization as the make-ups Chaney created for them. DARLING's "Stoop" Connors is a humorless street bully while VICTORY's Ricardo is a deadly killer with a sense of humor. Actress Seena Owen was in D.W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE three years before VICTORY and would be in Erich von Stroheim's QUEEN KELLY in 1928. Alternating between the languid and the brutally violent, VICTORY is a forgotten masterpiece that deserves to be seen again. THE WICKED DARLING, while no masterpiece, gives us a glimpse of early Chaney and one of my favorite neglected silent performers, Priscilla Dean. It is also extremely well made on a meager budget. An excellent double feature which was put together by David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates and Blackhawk Films. The music score by Eric Beheim is reworked from cue sheets of the period and features several recognizable themes.

Rating:
Summary: A definite treasure
Review: For Chaney fans, it rarely gets better than something like this. Victory has, thankfully, been around for several years on VHS, but you had to look like crazy to find it. Great to have it in a more lasting format! Wicked was, as several have noted already, thought lost until recently. The quality is almost secondary; If you're really into Chaney, ANY newly discovered footage is a gift. Now if only Turner (they're in its library) or WB or someone would release the remainder of his existing films on DVD!
The best advice I can offer: as with all Chaney films, don't read about them first, just watch them. The man was a master.

Rating:
Summary: An important addition for Lon Chaney fans especially
Review: This very interesting Lon Chaney double feature gives us better insight into the development of Chaney's career of character roles which earned him the title "Man of a Thousand Faces". Although he only plays secondary roles in both these 1919 films, his portrayal of a menacing and vicious criminal in both parts is so striking and effective that he practically steals the show. According to the excellent notes inside this DVD, Chaney made an impressive 116 films in the years 1913 to 1919, but less than 20 of them are thought to still exist. One of those films believed lost is "The Wicked Darling", of which only one print has been found so far, which explains the rather poor picture quality, namely 'snowflakes' for the most part. Otherwise the picture is still good and clear, and no doubt Lon Chaney fans and silent film enthusiasts in general would overlook some imperfections when it comes to rare films previously believed lost. In this film, Priscilla Dean also impressed me with her portrayal of the 'gutter rose', a petty thief of the slums whose love for a decent man motivates her to change her life for the better - but not without opposition from fellow-thief Chaney, whose malicious attempts to interfere in her life cause further obstacles to overcome.

My favourite of the two films is "Victory" which has survived in perfect condition and shows Chaney as a hard-to-kill ruthless murderer on some exotic islands in the Dutch East Indies. The principle characters and story depict a man who tries to follow his father's philosophy of isolation and detachment from society and people, living alone on a deserted island, yet when it comes to a pretty young woman in distress his plans go astray. Yet it takes three rough and murderous treasure hunters (especially Chaney's character with superb make-up done by Chaney himself) to invade his island paradise and threaten the woman to make him realize what is really important in life. Both films are about an hour long and have a very good new musical score by Eric Beheim, and apart from being a treat for Lon Chaney fans, they both feature other good stars in leading roles with interesting stories which are well directed, making this DVD a nice addition to a silent film collection.