EAST LYNNE (1916)

[drednm]

Have some cheese....

[entredeuxguerres]

Have some cheese....

Such a grevious offense deserves Limberger.

[telical]

Here's an odd film project for Theda Bara.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3K8NCyfnqA" target="_blank" target="_blank

I'm trying to figure out what this film is all about. I don't see a plot synopsis
anywhere online, although the book that it's taken from is in public domain
and available.

Can someone sum up some basic plot/themes?

[drednm]

East Lynne is an English sensation novel of 1861 by Ellen Wood. East Lynne was a Victorian bestseller. It is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot, centering on infidelity and double identities. There have been numerous stage and film adaptations.

Lady Isabel Carlyle, a beautiful and refined young woman, leaves her hard-working but neglectful lawyer-husband and her infant children to elope with an aristocratic suitor. After he deserts her, and she bears their illegitimate child, Lady Isabel disguises herself and takes the position of governess in the household of her former husband and his new wife.

Of the many adaptations on film, the Bara version is apparently a "modern dress" free adaptation. The 1925 Alma Rubens version more closely follows the traditional plot (and exists in a mute version). The 1931 talkie version starred Ann Harding and also exists although most prints are missing the ending. A complete version resides in an archive. This version was also nominated for a Best Film Oscar.

East Lynne joins other works like Uncle Tom's Cabin and Way Down East as literary works that were adapated for the stage and that toured the country for decades. East Lynne has been referred to in many films, usually as the prime example of old-fashioned Victorian soap opera.

[entredeuxguerres]

The 1931 talkie version starred Ann Harding and also exists although most prints are missing the ending. A complete version resides in an archive. This version was also nominated for a Best Film Oscar.

Of the lot, the only version I've ever wished to see, because of my faith that Harding & Brook can make even such a tear-jerker palatable; at any rate, I've never seen a performance by either I didn't enjoy...usually, immensely. But is Clive the neglectful hubby, or the aristocratic lover? Could envision him playing either part with equal conviction.

[drednm]

No idea. Conrad Nagel is the other. I think I watched this years (and years) ago but don't have any memory of it.

[entredeuxguerres]

No idea. Conrad Nagel is the other. I think I watched this years (and years) ago but don't have any memory of it.

If Ann abandoned Clive for Conrad...she deserved all her misfortunes.

[Frederica]

All they need is Youtube............

Guess that's better than nothing, but I dread those inescapable, atrocious YT ads, which make the GEH monogram others have complained of (not me!) inconsequential. (Heaven help me!--can this be construed as a whine?)

Yes.

[entredeuxguerres]

All they need is Youtube............

Guess that's better than nothing, but I dread those inescapable, atrocious YT ads, which make the GEH monogram others have complained of (not me!) inconsequential. (Heaven help me!--can this be construed as a whine?)

Yes.

Mother of pearl, the verdict is unanimous!

[drednm]

what a load of abalone.....

[greta de groat]

Yikes, what a terrible film--of all the Bara films to have survived ..... I was expecting it to be disappointing since we'd all much rather see her vamp roles, but i wasn't expecting it to be such an inept piece of filmmaking as well. Despite the incessant cutting to parallel action, it still managed to tell the story at about a 1910 level. I have no idea what all those intrigues at the beginning were about and it didn't get to the point until about the last half hour and then rushed through it. Poor Theda.

greta

[Bob Birchard]

I'm pretty sure that this film is at the George Eastman House archive. They provided a video dub (with counter) to someone who is burning DVD copies and selling them. The film is public domain.

"East Lynne" is held by MoMA, not GEH. The numbers are visible timecode, meaning that this is from a work dub to be used for editing. My guess is someone acquired the work tape for editing purposes and then knocked of (or allowed to be knocked off) one or more copies that have now been circulated without MoMA's approval.

[Bob Birchard]

Here's an odd film project for Theda Bara.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3K8NCyfnqA" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I'm trying to figure out what this film is all about. I don't see a plot synopsis
anywhere online, although the book that it's taken from is in public domain
and available.

Can someone sum up some basic plot/themes?

Fom the AFI Catalog:

http://catalog/Search/AbbrView.asp?Movie=16708" target="_blank

When Isabel Carlisle mistakenly believes that her husband Richard loves Barbara Hare, she leaves him and their two children. She does nothing to correct the report that she has been killed in a train wreck, and so Richard, believing himself to be a widower, marries Barbara. After a few months, Isabel longs to see her children and so, disguising herself, gets a job as their governess. Then, when her son becomes ill and calls out for his mother, Isabel throws off her disguise and goes to comfort him, but he dies in her arms. Discovering Isabel with the boy, Richard immediately forgives her for having left him and the children, but Isabel cannot forgive herself, and soon dies of grief.

[Frederica]

Fom the AFI Catalog:
http://catalog/Search/AbbrView.asp?Movie=16708" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

When Isabel Carlisle mistakenly believes that her husband Richard loves Barbara Hare, she leaves him and their two children. She does nothing to correct the report that she has been killed in a train wreck, and so Richard, believing himself to be a widower, marries Barbara. After a few months, Isabel longs to see her children and so, disguising herself, gets a job as their governess. Then, when her son becomes ill and calls out for his mother, Isabel throws off her disguise and goes to comfort him, but he dies in her arms. Discovering Isabel with the boy, Richard immediately forgives her for having left him and the children, but Isabel cannot forgive herself, and soon dies of grief.

Gaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkk.

[drednm]

A story torn right out of today's headlines!

[entredeuxguerres]

Fom the AFI Catalog:

http://catalog/Search/AbbrView.asp?Movie=16708" target="_blank" target="_blank

When Isabel Carlisle mistakenly believes that her husband Richard loves Barbara Hare, she leaves him and their two children. She does nothing to correct the report that she has been killed in a train wreck, and so Richard, believing himself to be a widower, marries Barbara. After a few months, Isabel longs to see her children and so, disguising herself, gets a job as their governess. Then, when her son becomes ill and calls out for his mother, Isabel throws off her disguise and goes to comfort him, but he dies in her arms. Discovering Isabel with the boy, Richard immediately forgives her for having left him and the children, but Isabel cannot forgive herself, and soon dies of grief.

They didn't identify the mangled dead in those days? Or maybe the train was transporting nitro. Though the theory of "death by grief" is commonplace in pre-modern literature, this summary clouds my faith that Ann & Clive could have made a cinematic success of it...but still, I'd like to see for myself.

[drednm]

and from Wikipedia:

"A film version of East Lynne. The movie was adapted from the novel by Tom Barry and Bradley King and directed by Frank Lloyd. The film is a melodrama starring Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel and Cecilia Loftus. Only one copy of the film is known to exist, although, somehow, bootleg DVD copies exist, minus the final sceen.

This print is in good shape, although several frames have an "X" on them, indicating they were to be removed in the film editing stage. One frame has a "crosshairs" on it while several frames have ink marks.

People may view the film at UCLA's Instructional Media Lab, Powell Library, after arranging an appointment."

Sounds like an "easy" restoration job, but are there copyright issues?

[Bob Birchard]

and from Wikipedia:

"A film version of East Lynne. The movie was adapted from the novel by Tom Barry and Bradley King and directed by Frank Lloyd. The film is a melodrama starring Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel and Cecilia Loftus. Only one copy of the film is known to exist, although, somehow, bootleg DVD copies exist, minus the final sceen.

This print is in good shape, although several frames have an "X" on them, indicating they were to be removed in the film editing stage. One frame has a "crosshairs" on it while several frames have ink marks.

People may view the film at UCLA's Instructional Media Lab, Powell Library, after arranging an appointment."

Sounds like an "easy" restoration job, but are there copyright issues?

UCLA restored the 1931 "East Lynne" a number of years ago.

[drednm]

Bob, any idea why no DVD release? No market for it?

[Bob Birchard]

Bob, any idea why no DVD release? No market for it?

Well, you can pretty much count the number of pre-1935 Fox pictures released to DVD on the pitching hand of Three-Finger Brown--but it may show up someday in Fox's MOD-DVD list. Keep watching the skys--and Amazon.

[Brooksie]

Gaaaaaaaaccckkkkkkkkkk.

According to pretty much everything I've read about this film, even audiences of 1916 were asking "Whose idea was it to drag up this old clunker?" It was like somebody of today remaking Peyton Place and expecting it to seem socially relevant.

[Bob Birchard]

10%...no, 5%, of the millions H'wood bigshots pour into the Democratic Party would probably fund every major archive in the country; they have the dough, I don't.

Well, Rupert Murdoch could fund all the major American Archives with his credit card, so could the Koch Brothers if they weren't too busy spending way more than they'd actually pay in taxes trying to buy Congress and the White House--------so what!
RICHARD M ROBERTS

So what? Overlooked in your zeal to make your point, one trivial difference between Murdoch, et al., & the H'wood elite--he isn't in the motion picture business, has no particular reason to be more concerned about the preservation of antique cinema than of antique fire-engines. Hard as well to understand how the idiocy of the Tea Party could be used to defend the historical indifference of H'wood fat-cats.

Well, 20th Century Fox is doing quite a lot of preservation on the company's cinematic assets, both directly and in conjunction with various archives. So, whether he is aware of it or not, Rupert is doing his part.

[Bob Birchard]

Yikes, what a terrible film--of all the Bara films to have survived ..... I was expecting it to be disappointing since we'd all much rather see her vamp roles, but i wasn't expecting it to be such an inept piece of filmmaking as well. Despite the incessant cutting to parallel action, it still managed to tell the story at about a 1910 level. I have no idea what all those intrigues at the beginning were about and it didn't get to the point until about the last half hour and then rushed through it. Poor Theda.

greta

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you, Greta. I think this version of "East Lynne" is a respectable production for its time. Relatively restrained performances, nicely staged action--also nicely edited on movement. The visuals suffer somewhat from relatively primitive lighting (by undiffused sunlight on a glass stage) in a number of scenes, but overall there is good use of composition.

The story is from hunger, and that is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of the nuances are lost in the lack of subtitles to explain some of the story points but. To be fair, the plot of "East Lynne" would have been well known to most in the 1916 audience both from the novel and the numerous stage adaptations through the years (" . . . next week, East Lynne").

What is lost in this adaptation is much of Isabel's downfall after the train wreck, so much of the plot is churned out without detail in the last reel, and for this reason it is not the star turn it might have been for Theda Bara. The film could have benefitted from being a couple of reels longer--or at least trimming a bit of the earlier part to put the story more in balance and to build up Theda's role. But, the melodramatic trappings of the story aside, I didn't find this one that bad.

[greta de groat]

I bow to the pro on technical issues, but you kind of prove my point. No matter how technically competent the editing may have been, the film didn 't tell the story. Now everyone may have known the story of East Lynne, but usually by 1916 film makers were not relying on that alone like Porter was in 1903 with his highlights of Uncle Tom's Cabin. This wasn't even highlights! I spent the first half of the film wondering who all these people were and I still don't know, it's like they wasted all their time and energy with the backstory and left out all the juicy parts.

And that disguise was pretty ludicrous. ..

Greta

[Gagman 66]

I haven't seen the 1916 version, but I have seen the 1925 one. And in a beautiful print transfer.

[Penfold]

So hackneyed that the climactic line, "Gone, Gone, and never called me Mother" entered the language as the epitome of histrionic, melodramatic overacting and/or false grief.

[Mike Gebert]

I'm pretty sure that there's a Warner Bros. cartoon where Daffy Duck says it, but I've never been able to identify it. However, it is here toward the end (around 6:20):



For all that, East Lynne was filmed again relatively recently, so there must be some way to do it and not have it simply reek of the past's sentimental excesses...

[drednm]

Better that reek than the stench of most current-day films.....

[entredeuxguerres]

Better that reek than the stench of most current-day films.....

Victorian mawkishness ain't easy for me to swallow, I'll warrant you, but if it ever became a choice between that & the popular culture that celebrates Lady Gag-a & "Dancing with the Stars," I'll guzzle the former by the keg.

[drednm]

The older I get, the better "mawkishness" sounds!!