Le signal de feu

I saw this film at the Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema with a specially commissioned live score by Shona Mooney that was so mind- blowingly good that it's hard to separate out the film itself from the combined experience. However that's silent films I suppose, they are new each time in a way that talkies aren't. Although I've just had the best night out at the cinema for a long time, the film as a stand-alone item isn't perfect. That said it's pretty damn good and, note, one of those ones where you'd be foolish to decide whether to go and see it based on a You Tube clip. Like a Scott novel, you might dip into it and think it ludicrously antiquated, but accept its own rhythms and logic and you get hooked. The film really is Annie Laurie, it's her (Gish) and not any of the men who is the pivot, who makes the important choices good and bad, deals with the consequences, drives the narrative and has a full physical part in the very well-done and action-packed finale. It's funny at times, romantic or suspenseful at others.

The music though, in the performance I saw: simply stunning, and the best live film score I've experienced. The performers were, appropriately, Scottish traditional musicians and aside from being good music, pure and simple, the score was pitch perfect at every point in interpreting and enhancing the action. As one small example, one of the film's big problems, for a modern audience, is that the male love interest Ian MacGregor (this is the old story of the Campbells and the MacGregors leading up to Glencoe) is hard to take seriously. Unlike the character of his brother, who gets the 'other' girl and could probably pass muster in a current Hollywood film in a Paul Rudd kind of way, the way Kerry plays Ian, and the way his character looks, are just not what we are conditioned to expect and initially seem comic. However Mooney's music believes in him, just as Annie Laurie does, and it's the music that, building up to a climactic and decisive mid-river kiss, made us feel the moment as Annie Laurie does and, at that point and thereafter, buy into the deal that she does.

Even a ridiculous Hollywood postscript comes, rather nicely, in colour when all else is in black and white; whatever the actual explanation, it felt like a cool, self-subverting marker that we'd shifted realities, and made for a great close - reminded me of a similar effect from the extending of the aspect ratio in Dolan's Mommy - which I'd recently seen.

All in all, go to see Annie Laurie at any point, but if you get a chance to see it with the Shona Mooney score (the HippFest audience were told it would be touring at least to the Barbican in London), you should go considerably out of your way not to miss it.

"Annie Laurie" (1927) stars Lillian Gish, Norman Kerry, Creighton Hale, Joseph Striker, David Torrence, Hobart Bosworth, Patricia Avery, Russell Simpson, and so many others. Set at the time of the Massacre at Glencoe (occurred on the 13 February 1692) when government forces literally slaughtered somewhere around an estimated 30 Clan MacDonald members, including women and youngsters. The film does indeed fictionalize the entire event, but it does it via a ploy caused by the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay whose History of England attempted to completely exonerate King William III (of William and Mary fame) from any wrongful complicity in the affair. Instead, history until much later regarded Glencoe truly as a battle between the Clan MacDonald and the Clan Campbell. 'T'were na sae.

The film begins rather deliberately, if not slowly, with Lillian Gish and her cousin (played well by Patricia Avery) from the Laurie family (headed by David Torrence) showing an intense and loving friendship. This, among a gathering of Clan families at the immense and richly appointed castle of the Campbells. We also see Patrick Campbell (played extremely well by Creighton Hale!) trying to be a (or THE) suitor of Gish. She's willing, but only up to a point. Meanwhile, as things develop, Patricia Avery develops a longing and loving relationship with one of the Highland MacDonalds, those dirty, awful barbaric fighting MacDonalds! The MacDonalds have already had a Campbell deliver a body to their castle after his death was in answer to the long ongoing feud of the two families.

Eventually we meet the head of MacDonald clan, played by Hobart Bosworth and his son, Norman Kerry. Kerry and Gish several scenes later form a back and forth relationship that turns into a love affair - of course. The development of the affair takes a goodly amount of time in the film, some might say too long. Still, it is carefully developed by the director, but indeed focused on Gish, with Kerry getting the good parts, but Gish getting the camera and close-ups.

All leads to the battle that ensues at the end and the genuine tragedy. I'll just say that the ending is hogwash as far as history is concerned, and it is even a tad too washed-up for an audience today, but it must have been really good fodder in 1927.

The new Blu-Ray release from Kino Lorber is sumptuous, though near the end there are a couple of jumps where film is obviously missing a few frames and the picture isn't quite perfect, but overall the film is in lovely condition, and it was a good watch. Very much recommended. I've never been much of a Norman Kerry fan, but I must admit that he's superb in this film, and in my opinion takes all the acting honors. Gish is Gish, though a year later in '28 she turned in her stellar performance in "The Wind". It's always a pleasure to see Hobart Bosworth, and he's the older head of the MacDonald clan seemingly turning over the reigns to his son, Kerry. Of course, too, they got a good Scotsman, David Torrence, to head the Laurie family. Russell Simpson plays a comic eccentric, but almost seems a narrator at times, even breaking the fourth wall twice.

Camera work and set work in the film are gorgeous. A couple of miniatures are very dated now, but from a distance of one hundred years they still play somewhat... Direction could have paced a tad faster in my opinion, but I have a feeling John Robertson was being coached by Lillian Gish. Sets and camera angles to film sets are spectacular for the day. Yes, today things would have been filmed on location, but I give the one hundred years its due process. It wins in my court.

Have at it and enjoy.

By the time she made ANNIE LAURIE in 1927, Lillian Gish was 33 years old and had appeared in over 20 feature films and more than 40 shorts. It was her third movie for MGM after LA BOHEME & THE SCARLET LETTER, both of which were moderately successful. MGM at that time was the biggest, most powerful studio in Hollywood. Studio head Louis B. Mayer didn't like Gish because she was allowed more autonomy than most female stars (initially she had script approval and could choose her director) but as long as her movies made money, he left her alone. However ANNIE was an expensive flop, and that, coupled with the arrival of Greta Garbo assured Lillian's days at MGM would be numbered. After 3 more poorly performing movies (including the highly acclaimed THE WIND), Gish left Hollywood for 10 years.

It's hard to fathom why ANNIE failed at the box office at the time of its release. The film took its name from a well known ballad and was based on an actual historical event. Joining Gish were popular 1920s leading man Norman Kerry (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) along with silent film veterans Brandon Hurst and Hobart Bosworth as the leaders of the rival clans. Also in the cast, in an atypical role, was Creighton Hale who was known for his comedic roles like in THE CAT AND THE CANARY. Here Hale portrays the chief villain and he's very good. The movie also had lavish production values as can be seen in the massive castle sets and in the hundreds of extras clothed in traditional Scottish dress (lots and lots of kilts representing the different clans).

The plot concerns two warring clans, the Campbells and the MacDonalds in 17th century Scotland. Gish portrays the title character who is the daughter of a diplomat trying to initiate peace between the two families. She commits herself to a Campbell but then falls for a MacDonald. When her jilted boyfriend plans a gruesome revenge upon the opposing family, Annie must risk her life to warn them before it is too late. The circumstances are based on the Glencoe Massacre which occurred February 13, 1692. While this event has been fictionalized and romanticized, it actually did happen. The attack is rousingly staged and is definitely the action highlight of the film. The final scene of the movie was shot in two-strip Technicolor which added to the expense.

After the movie tanked, MGM "forgot" about it (as they did all 4 of Gish's movies made there) and it disappeared for almost 60 years and was considered lost. In the 1980s a print was located in Oregon and turned over to the American Film Institute who sent it to the Library of Congress. The film was in less than pristine condition but at least it was preserved. After a number of years, restoration efforts began and the fully restored version, complete with a brand new full orchestral score, premiered in January of 2024. The music by Robert Israel is a medley of familiar Scottish tunes including the titular one which was the initial inspiration for the movie. It is this restored version that has now been made available on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

ANNIE LAURIE, while not top drawer Gish, still has lots of things going for it. It's a delight to look at with superbly detailed sets and excellent location shooting beautifully captured by longtime MGM cinematographer Oliver Marsh. The underrated Norman Kerry is both handsome and rugged but, as mentioned earlier, acting honors belong to Creighton Hale. Lillian is good as always but seems less at home in the lighter scenes. She does come to life during the dramatic finale which was more her mien. From my POV, the action sequences have been transferred a trifle fast but the LOC should know what it's doing. The ending Technicolor scenes do look good. While it's great to have ANNIE LAURIE, I'm still waiting for a restored Version of THE WIND...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

The restoration of this movie had its Turner Classic Movies premiere, and I have spent a pleasant couple of hours looking at it. It stars Lillian Gish as Annie Laurie ... but it is more accurate to say that it co-stars Miss Gish and Norman Kerry as Ian MacDonald in one of those I-love-you-I-hate-you plots that was often used while some minor event was taking place, like World War II or the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, to give the movie a little gravitas. Here it's the Massacre of Glencoe, laid here entirely to the perfidy of the Campbells, led by Hobart Bosworth. Look it up if you care to know what it was. In this movie it's an excuse for a bang-up battle sequence at the very end, made possible by Miss Gish being shot, but still scrambling to the top of a hill with a bloodthirsty highlander close behind her, trying to stop her setting alight the signal that will call the the MacDonalds to save their embattled chieftain. Will she succeed? Will the lovers survive for a final two-strip Technicolor sequence?

Miss Gish decried her comedic abilities as "Funny as a barrel of dead babies", but she has a very funny sequence, in which, as mistress of her father's house, she is very full of herself as she prepares the place for a peace meeting between the clans. At other times she runs through her gamut of serious emotions, and does very well with them, thank you. Kerry is boisterous and charming in the early part of the movie, trying to buckle his swashes (whatever those are) like Fairbanks or Milton Sills. The rest of it has the usual late-silent players -- Creighton Hale, Patricia Avery, and Russell Simpson playing their parts very well. Although it appears to have been shot entirely on sets, director John S. Robinson does an impeccable job. Alas, it didn't do well at the box office.

I should mention Robert Israel's score, full of traditional Scottish airs and occasional bagpipes. He shows a dab hand at his job, as might be expected, with the title tune occasionally bringing a tear to my eye, and not just in pain at hearing the pipes.

A copy of this film was recently found and restored by the U.S. Library of Congress. It is well written, directed, acted and filmed. It is about the need to end cycles of vendettas and the courage required to say that you will not allow the cycle of death and hatred to continue. It is about the fact that humans by nature are loving and that only a perverse heart hates indefinitely. This is a story about courage and the cowardice of people who misuse power to their own petty ends.

Some dangerous stunts from a time in which leads did their own stunt work. Miss Gish's fall down a mountain face might not have been as dangerous as jumping around on ice flows as in Way Down East. Yet it reminds us of a time when actors no only did their own stunts in uncontrolled environments but COULD ACT as well!