Devil's Island

Melodramatic and contrived in the extreme - even for 1926 - this is one of 10 surviving silents (out of 58) of Pauline Frederick and one of only two that are available on DVD. This great tragedienne is almost forgotten now, as so much of her work is lost.

Marian Nixon, a young dramatic actress, whose face reminds one of Myrna Loy, tries valiantly, but like everyone else in the cast, with the exception of Ms. Frederick, manages to overact under inept direction. George Lewis as the son is handsome and effective as a young leading man. The only acting honors go though to Frederick, who must be noble throughout and age from a young woman to a suffering mother.

The first part of the story takes up 25 minutes, the latter part with the son and mother the remaining 50 minutes. The print I saw on DVD is 75 minutes long, not the 70 listed on the IMDb site.

Worth seeing only for Frederick.

Fascinating story and solid performances make this a good film.

Story opens with the sentencing of a French army doctor (Richard Tucker) to Devil's Island for a life sentence. His fiancée (Pauline Frederick) is devastated. But French law allows (after seven years) for prisoners to marry and live in Cayenne. The glitch is that the wife and any children are also branded as convicts and must live out their lives in Cayenne.

After 7 years, Frederick makes her way to Devil's Island and marries Tucker. They have a child who becomes a celebrated surgeon (George Lewis) after the father dies. The son and mother plan an escape but the son meets a girl (Marian Nixon) on the beach and they fall in love. The son tells mother he will not leave Rose-Marie behind. She too has been born into the convict thing. After they discover the girl is a dancer in a saloon and not a convent girl, the mother persuades the son to escape.

But at that moment, they are summoned to the commandant's office. They fear their plans have been discovered but because of the son's great surgical skills, they have been pardoned and can return to France.

Rose-Marie is left behind to rot in Cayenne. Safely back in France, the mother is wooed by an old friend (John Miljan) responsible for their pardon. The son, however, realizes his mistake in abandoning Rose-Marie.

Marian Nixon is terrific as Rose-Marie and is convincing as the good girl born into hell. Pauline Frederick is majestic as the long-suffering wife and mother. George Lewis is solid as the son. Top supporting work from Richard Tucker and John Miljan. Harry Northrup is the commandant. William Dunn and Leo White are prisoners.