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Posted: **Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:43 am**

Has anybody seen this picture and/or bought the dvd? I've never seen it but always heard about it. The dvd box cover from Kino(I take it Kino is just one version) looks great!
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=777" target="_blank

Posted: **Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:01 pm**

It's a good film that falls a bit short of being great. Good production values, beautiful cinematography, and Madge Bellamy's just so darned cute, but some sections may tend to get tedious depending on your mood and attention span at the moment. Anything by Maurice Tourneur is well-worth seeing, however. Go ahead and buy it and let us know your reaction!

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:09 am**

I think it's a wonderful film. It's pacing isn't always perfect - and that's its only fault - but the rest is wonderful, especially the photography, which for 1922 is really wonderful. Not up to "The Last of the Mohicans" (1920), but still outstanding.

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:38 pm**

Imperfect, but decent film. Kino's restoration was really good, but you can tell some parts come from 16MM reduction prints - probably all that survived of those scenes in good condition.

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:43 pm**

I have the DVD. It's been on TCM a few times too. Not exactly a great movie, but worth seeing. Still not sure how Madge Bellamy survived? That really isn't explained. Maybe the footage is missing. Anyone notice that Bellamy actually has quite a few films on DVD?

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:37 pm**

They had a retrospective on M. Tourneur at the National Gallery in January, they ran a couple of his sound films after he went back to France. Needless to say I missed them. But he's well known for a personal visual style ie LORNA DOONE, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE WISHING RING. Luckily those are available for us today but what of other interesting films in his canon.
For instance THE BAIT(1921) with a story by Sidney Toler and scenario by John Gilbert, yes 'that' John Gilbert.
http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/Bait1921.html" target="_blank
http://www.impawards.com/1921/bait.html" target="_blank

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:29 pm**

My copy (recorded from television) is in very good condition and the story moves along quite well IMO. There's some interesting action where galloping horses seem nervous with the camera just ahead of them on the dirt road (nice filming). Then there's the scene where the carriage is forced into the water by bandits...all very exciting indeed with more drama than humor which is what I enjoy most.

The story held my interest (I am often easily bored), and the special effects seen in the film added to the thrill of watching this.

It's worth another look tonight after being reminded of this.

Rich Wagner

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 8:01 pm**

sepiatone wrote:They had a retrospective on M. Tourneur at the National Gallery in January, they ran a couple of his sound films after he went back to France. Needless to say I missed them. But he's well known for a personal visual style ie LORNA DOONE, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, THE WISHING RING. Luckily those are available for us today but what of other interesting films in his canon.
For instance THE BAIT(1921) with a story by Sidney Toler and scenario by John Gilbert, yes 'that' John Gilbert.
http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/Bait1921.html
http://www.impawards.com/1921/bait.html

I recently watched Maurice Tourneur's The Bluebird (1918).
Nitrate damage in certain parts (repairable digitally)
do not interfere with it's immense charm.

The Pride of The Clan, A Girl's Folly, Alias Jimmy Valentine,
and The Cub survive as well and are worth viewing.

Treasure Island and Prunella are lost
(although a fragment of Prunella is rumored
to exist) but stills suggest that scenes were
composed with his painter's eye.

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:34 pm**

Big Silent Fan wrote: It's worth another look tonight after being reminded of this.

Rich Wagner

Although I very quickly tired of the reduntant and sometimes absent music, the film was even better than I remembered...and with a very surprising end.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:07 pm**

about a year after LORNA DOONE Maurice Tourneur made an atmospheric movie called ISLE OF LOST SHIPS(1923). Kevin had a great production photo from this film in his companion book to HOLLYWOOD THE SERIES. It's another one of Tourneur's many lost films (or is it lost?). Some background on this movie reveals that Irvin Willat remade 'ISLE OF LOST SHIPS' in 1929 with sound reportedly using some of the footage shot from the silent film. I ran across another sound film from 1936 called THE SEA FIEND/aka DEVIL MONSTER and in the early sequences of the film there are scenes of tall ships bunched together(as in Tourneur's silent film) with what is obviously silent stock footage. I was wondering if this stock footage could be from Tourneur's lost ISLE OF LOST SHIPS. I linked a photo from ISLE OF LOST SHIPS below and the Archive.org listing of THE SEA FIEND movie. Judge for yourselves:

poster/photo in center
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GbIcdCQyhcY/T ... ps_01c.jpg" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

THE SEA FIEND(1936)
http://www.archive.org/details/DevilMonster1946" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:23 pm**

[quote="syd"][quote="sepiatone"]

"I recently watched Maurice Tourneur's The Bluebird (1918).
Nitrate damage in certain parts (repairable digitally)
do not interfere with it's immense charm."

THE BLUE BIRD is wonderful. I was so impressed when I saw it on TCM in December I ordered the Kino DVD the next day. An amazing film that simply enchants the viewer.

Posted: **Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:41 am**

Posts: 874
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:10 pm
Location: East Coast, USA

Re: Lorna Doone (1922)

about a year after LORNA DOONE Maurice Tourneur made an atmospheric movie called ISLE OF LOST SHIPS(1923). Kevin had a great production photo from this film in his companion book to HOLLYWOOD THE SERIES. It's another one of Tourneur's many lost films (or is it lost?). Some background on this movie reveals that Irvin Willat remade 'ISLE OF LOST SHIPS' in 1929 with sound reportedly using some of the footage shot from the silent film. I ran across another sound film from 1936 called THE SEA FIEND/aka DEVIL MONSTER and in the early sequences of the film there are scenes of tall ships bunched together(as in Tourneur's silent film) with what is obviously silent stock footage. I was wondering if this stock footage could be from Tourneur's lost ISLE OF LOST SHIPS. I linked a photo from ISLE OF LOST SHIPS below and the Archive.org listing of THE SEA FIEND movie. Judge for yourselves:

The 1923 film is MIA. MOMA has the '29 version but the sound is lost. The footage at the beginning of SEA FIEND looks to me like standard newsreel/documentary footage more than like something from ISLE OF LOST SHIPS but...Was there more footage later on? I gave up about halfway through; it was godawful though I got a smile or two out of the native chieftain with the Bela Lugosi accent.
Henry Nicolella

Posted: **Sat Nov 03, 2012 6:23 pm**

I've not seen this before: a highly informative piece on Maurice Tourneur's silent films, written by K.A. Westphal of the GEH. http://motionwithinmotion.blogspot.com/ ... rneur.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

Posted: **Sun Jan 24, 2016 4:23 pm**

This afternoon I watched an upload of this film, taken from an Alpha issue. I then read that better copies were around. This particular copy had a music score which was somewhat uneven, but sounded as if it might have been added to the film for a re-issue. Was this the case, or did Alpha just add something to give it a soundtrack?