Du sollst nicht begehren deines Nächsten Weib

This film has long been much sought after because it is the only film in which Valentino and Swanson star together. Now that this film has been newly discovered perhaps it will receive some actual reviews on here in another year or so. Once restoration work is completed along with a newly composed score it will be shown at a film festival in Amsterdam next year. The good news is that the film is in good condition except for about 2 minutes which were damaged and will need work. This film was discovered among 2000 canisters that were given to the Filmmuseum from a collector who passed away. It took several years to realize that a complete copy of the film was in the collection.

The silent era continues to have surprises for us, such as this one, "Beyond the Rocks," a film starring Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino once thought lost but since rediscovered and restored.

Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, it's a potboiler that doesn't hold up well today, but so little does at age 84. It's the story of a young woman, Theodora, the hope of her family (i.e., the one with the youth and looks to nab a rich husband) who meets a British nobleman (Valentino) when he saves her from drowning.

Then she meets her betrothed, a short, old thing. She's disappointed, but for the sake of her father, marries him. She runs into Valentino on her honeymoon and this time, he saves her from falling off a mountain during a climbing expedition. They seem Meant to Be. But both are determined to honor her marriage vows.

Valentino and Swanson are heavily made up, and both actually looked much better with a more natural appearance. In the beginning, with her hair down and less Max Factor, Swanson is lovely - petite, with amazing eyes and beautiful skin. Later on, however, she looks older than she is due to the make-up and hair-do. Her character has a great wardrobe, and Swanson wears it well.

Both actors give good performances. Valentino had a tendency to be obvious in some of his emotions - it was more the style then - but he gives a more relaxed performance in "Beyond the Rocks." Most of the movie looks beautiful with its sepia tones though there are some damaged sections. It's quite a find and a chance to see two big stars of the silent era together.

Swanson wrote of parts of the film that don't seem to exist any longer - but as one of the comments here suggests, she perhaps was mixing this up with another film. Given the plot, it would be easy to do so.

Finally saw this via TCM's world premiere; this is the most famous film discovery of the last few years, thought to be lost for 80 years! Very good romance film that sweeps from the English coast to the Alps and the to the African desert. Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino star as star-crossed lovers who wait years to get together.

They meet when she falls from a row boat into the sea and he dives from his yacht to save her. They area attracted but she must marry a self-made millionaire to save her poor family. Later in the Alps on her honeymoon she slips from a snowy ledge and is rescued to guess who? They continue to tun into each other (because he's chasing her) until finally they all come together in the desert.

A little slow but Swanson and Valentino are two of the most charismatic stars of the 20s and they are great together.

Oh I didn't care much for the new musical score. It was boring New Age droning and didn't fit the era. Milestone made the same error with it's restoration of Piccadilly. Here the music drones along, except for a Scott Joplin number, with shards of sound effects.

Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, the topic of "love outside marriage" was a hot one in the early 1920s. Glyn's plots are always clichés but the real magic here is the beautiful Swanson and beautiful Valentino and how they finally get to be "beyond the rocks." Parts of the film are missing but nothing major. Some parts are distressingly deteriorated but nothing to ruin the overall film. Other parts of the film are so clear you can see grain of the fabrics.

Read up on this film in Swanson's autobiography. She was friends (only) with Valentino and allowed him to be co-starred with her (she got first billing despite the new Dutch restoration that gave Valentino top billing in the closing credits) on condition she get a 3-month vacation in Europe.

Later she corrected someone who said SHE had worked with HIM. HE had worked with HER (because it was her film). Wow semantics, but in the original Swanson got billing alone above the title.

Swanson also talks about the famous tango she did with him--alas lost! I assume it was during the house party where they were readying a "pageant" and she's wearing a famous dress (they talked about it for a year, says Swanson) of white lace and shimmering gold beads. The lobby card I have from this film is a scene of Valentino and Swanson doing the tango. What a pity, but maybe the scene will be found.

At the very end of her terrific book she says people never stopped asking her if she knew where a copy of BEYOND THE ROCKS was... or MADAME SANS-GENE or the final reel from SADIE THOMPSON. You can sense her great feeling of loss.

But it's ironic that in several of her "recovered" films there are still scenes missing: the tango scene in BEYOND THE ROCKS, her Chaplin impersonation in MANHANDLED, and the final piece of SADIE THOMPSON.

When 'Beyond the Rocks' had its initial and only performance at the London Film festival, it was undoubtedly one of the events of the year. The cinema was booked out in advance, and queues formed at the box office in the hopes of obtaining returned tickets. Irrespective of its artistic merits, the miraculously-rediscovered film was guaranteed to arouse interest.

It has to be confessed, however, that the storyline of 'Beyond the Rocks' is in itself complete and utter tosh...

It became apparent to the audience what to expect within the first few shots, where the breathless and far-from-deathless prose of the title cards raised more than a few chuckles, although the attitude in the auditorium was good-natured throughout. The film is no great work of art and never pretends to be; the plot is women's-magazine stuff, told with a straight face as it whips through a quick world tour of stereotypes, from the English seaside to the quaint Alpine inn and a desert oasis. One of the biggest -- and to give it its due, probably in this case intentional -- laughs was raised by the heroine's bewildered husband voicing the audience's own reaction to the revelation of some very undersized Egyptian ruins: "Is that all?"

I was favourably impressed by the restraint and sensitivity of Rudolph Valentino in handling this material. His performance appealed to me considerably more than that of Gloria Swanson, whose role here, to be fair, consists of little more than a series of coy, tragic or would-be dramatic poses; she suffers also, I suspect, from being the designated Star and thus made up far more heavily in the contemporary style than the other female characters. The actress whom I actually admired the most was June Elvidge, playing the small role of Valentino's sister (randomly referred to in various title cards as Ann, Anne or Anna). She gave a very sympathetic and vividly-drawn rendition of her part that contrasted somewhat with what struck me as Miss Swanson's mask-like demeanour.

Despite an expressive performance from Valentino, unfortunately we have to take the central love affair more or less on trust. There is not a great deal of chemistry in evidence. Indeed, the heroine Theodora comes across to me as rather more animated and concerned about the fate of her husband in the final scenes, than about her lover in all that precedes; I must admit to half-hoping for a last minute twist that would have her realise she has grown to love this unprepossessing figure instead! But convention is met by a different set of clichés, and young love duly has its day.

It is interesting to compare the film with the references in Swanson's own memoirs, written many years after it was deemed lost: unless it has been lost in this print to censorship or decay, there is no sequence showing 'the tango as it was meant to be danced; by the master himself', let alone featuring in this dance 'a gold-beaded and embroidered lace evening gown so shimmering and beautiful that movie-goers talked about it for the next year'. Nor, even in this 'European' version, are there any of the 'torrid kisses' of which she observes 'Poor Rudy could hardly get his nostrils flaring before the American version was over'. Either the relevant sections are forever missing, or her memory must have been confused by other Valentino pictures of the era.

The film shown in London was the 'archival version', full-frame and silent, as opposed to the print with attached soundtrack to be made available for future exhibition and sale. In place of the Vrienten score with its allegedly intrusive sound-effects, we were treated to accompaniment by the National Film Theatre's justly renowned Neil Brand. I am unable, therefore, to comment on the music other than to commend the improvisation on this occasion!

In conclusion, I cannot honestly recommend 'On the Rocks' other than as a curiosity: true, it is a relatively early production in a style unfamiliar to modern eyes, but even so I have seen earlier film that I have appreciated more. The beautiful Theodora remains largely a helpless cipher of events, the melodrama of the plot is superficial rather than absorbing, the literary standard of the titles is on occasion risible and the screen lovers fail to kindle a convincing spark. Contemporary critics reputedly disdained it, and only the innovative star pairing and mythical 'lost' status have resurrected its appeal.

But it *is*, without question, a curiosity, and as such worth seeing once by any amateur of film history or Valentino fan. Just don't expect too much...

I have to start by saying that I am probably the worst possible person to write a comment on "Beyond the Rocks", as it is the only silent movie I've seen to date. However, since not many people have yet had a chance to see this movie, I thought it my duty as a movie enthusiast to review.

In "Beyond the Rocks" a poor young woman, Theodora Fitzgerald (Gloria Swanson), briefly meets the handsome Lord Hector Bracondale (Rudolph Valentino). They like each other, but soon part ways. Some time later Theodora marries a rich man, even though she has no feelings for him whatsoever, in order to make her father and sisters happy. On her honeymoon she runs into Hector again, and they continue to meet each other socially. Soon they realise that they love each other, but Theodora is now married, which makes it impossible for them to be together.

I found the beginning of "Beyond the Rocks" a bit slow and uneventful. Things do happen, but somehow I couldn't really get 'into' the story. The reason for this is, most likely, that the love between the two main characters at that point hasn't fully developed yet, nor have their problems, and there is little to get emotionally involved with the characters about. But this 'slow' part doesn't last long, and the rest of the movie is as interesting as such a love story can possibly be.

"Beyond the Rocks" is famous for co-starring two silent movie greats, Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. I was a bit disappointed with Valentino at first. During much of the first half of the movie, he has little to do but smile and look good, neither of which requires much acting talent. Fortunately he has more emotions to convey later, and then finally gets the chance to show what he's capable of. But Swanson remains the star of this movie. Whenever she is on the screen, whatever she is doing, she's the one you're looking at. Even when Valentino acts at his best, he is very much in his own world inside the movie, while Swanson transcends the bounds, radiating off the screen and drawing you into the story.

Not long ago, only one minute of this movie was known to have survived. Then, a few years ago, a copy of the whole film was found in The Netherlands, where it was restored by the Nederlands Filmmuseum. The quality is, as far as I can judge, usually very good. There are only two moments in the film where there is a lot of damage, and it briefly becomes extremely difficult to see what's happening on the screen. The first of these moments is very short, and the shot rather uninteresting, so that it is no great loss to not be able to see it. The other is longer and happens in the middle of a considerably more important and interesting scene. It is a shame that this part of the movie didn't survive in a better condition, but one can't expect miracles, and an advancement from one minute of film to all 80 minutes whereof perhaps one minute damaged is doubtless a great one.

Dutch movie composer Henny Vrienten has made a soundtrack for "Beyond the Rocks". Unique of this soundtrack is that it not only contains music, but also sounds from the surroundings of the characters: cars driving up, footsteps on the stairs, knocks on the door, etc. The general opinion on this seems to be that it makes it easier for people to follow what's happening. I personally can see the other view - that silent movies weren't meant to have sound effects - as well, but the sound as it is didn't bother me. There is one thing, however, that I think should have been left out, and that is the sound of people talking in the background, which is sometimes used. If the actors don't talk audibly, I really don't think it's appropriate to have talking (and sometimes laughing) heard in the background, even if it only occurs in 'party' scenes, where it would be a normal sound to expect. The music is often good and fitting enough (though sometimes rather early-21st-century), except in one scene where the music played in a fancy hotel/restaurant is of the kind you would expect to hear in a saloon in a bad western. This soundtrack is not my favorite part of the film as I saw it, but it certainly isn't so bad that it ruins one's viewing experience, and naturally the movie can't be blamed for it.

All in all, this is a great movie. I hope that it will soon get distributed around the world to give everyone the opportunity to see it.