White Tiger

Welcome to the world of Tod Browning, a world of sideshows and thieves, vampires and murderers, where men cut off their arms for love and wear dresses for revenge, the world of Dracula and FREAKS. Browning was a true original. He had a long association with Lon Chaney that ended only with death. In Browning's world, people pretend to be other than they are, but they rarely know who they are until it is too late.

There are considerable problems with the story as told, probably due to the fact that the movie was shelved for a couple of years and then had the titles rewritten anonymously. I strongly suspect that the relationships between the three leads was a lot more sexual in Browning's script than they are here.

In short, this is a bizarre movie and the main actors in it -- Wallace Beery, Raymond Griffith and Priscilla Dean play bizarre characters manipulated by a bizarre fate. Perhaps you don't believe in fate. If not, you may find this movie a mess of wild coincidences. But if you accept Browning's vision, you will find yourself drawn along.

There is a happy ending tacked on, for those of you who like happy endings. The rest of us will ignore it.

After their underworld father is shot down, children Raymond Griffith (as Roy Donovan) and Priscilla Dean (as Sylvia Donovan) are brought up believing each other is dead; they are separated, and raised, by other criminals. Wallace Beery (as Bill Hawkes), the "Stool Pidgeon" who played a part in her father's death, raises Ms. Dean to be an accomplished London pickpocket. Meanwhile, enterprising Mr. Griffith scams pawns as "The Mechanical Chess-player". Mr. Beery, who calls himself "Count Donelli" invites Griffith to join himself and Dean. Soon, the unholy trio travel to New York's Fifth Avenue; there, they plan their biggest heist.

Tod Browning's "White Tiger" is entertainingly performed, and directed. Later in the running time, Matt Moore (as Richard Longworth) makes the troupe a fine acting quartet. The story situation requires too great a suspension of disbelief, however. You'll may wonder why Griffith and Dean don't dope things out sooner (just for starters). The "White Tiger" referred to in the title is, by the way, the criminal element that lives in the heart of the unholy criminal: "Fawning and hating the strong, ready to ravage the weak, faithless…suspicious…cruel and savage, fearing no God…trusting no man…that's White Tiger in the heart of the crook!"

I love silent films. Some of the best pictures ever made hail from the silent era, and even setting aside the classics, such works are a critical part of our cultural heritage that deserve to be appreciated and remembered. Not all such early titles are made equally, however. The chief trouble that I have with this one is its very weak start to the narrative; the first several minutes are written so poorly, and executed so messily, that it's a struggle to even take at face value. Sadly, much the same glaring issue rears its head again at the most inopportune time, during major revelations for the characters, at about T-12 minutes, that complement those earliest beats. Thankfully the storytelling is more mindful for the majority of the length (also recovering for the very end), with a disparity that only highlights how shoddy its most deficient points are - yet still it's distinctly uneven. The plot and its development, and the scene writing, occasionally proceed with an oversimplified brusqueness that not only in some measure quashes some of the desired tactfulness and subtlety, but also strips away connective tissue such that the screenplay at times feels like a mere outline, and not a finished product. Tod Browning's esteemed career in film-making was far better than not, though not flawless, and co-writer Charles Kenyon has plentiful credits to his name, but among their contributions to cinema I'm not fully convinced that 'White tiger' was a faultless gem in anyone's crown.

Mind you, while it has problems that dampen one's first and last impressions, it's hardly all bad. More than not, in fact, it's quite well done. It's in the details of the writing that the title is thusly troubled, but as the story advances, Browning and Kenyon do find their feet over time. The broad strokes of the tale are just fine, worthwhile and enjoyable despite familiar underpinnings in early cinema of crime, and people who are led into it. Meanwhile, the mechanical chess player is a novelty that helps a recognizable narrative thrust to feel a little more fresh. The production design and art direction are quite lovely, as is the costume design, and hair and makeup work. While surviving prints weren't wholly pristine before being digitally preserved, still there's sufficient quality in the image to admire the work that went into the picture from behind the scenes. And I should say in front of the camera, too, as the cast give solid performances - Matt Moore, Wallace Beery, Raymond Griffith, and especially Browning regular Priscilla Dean. It's a pleasure just to watch them all ply their trade. While the writing is imperfect, the man's direction isn't in question, and neither is the cinematography.

It feels strange to say for a silent movie, but there are times in the second half when 'White tiger' seems to lag a little bit, times when the compelling drama and excitement temporarily taper off. During such times the weaknesses in the writing again become more evident, and hearty suspension of disbelief is required to accept the tale as it presents. This is unfortunate, for when the feature is at its best it's reliably engaging and entertaining, and the strengths of everyone's contributions are apparent. Had the screenplay been tightened the end result would have been still more robust - why, if even just the early portions of the narrative weren't so thin, and specifically story beats revolving around the characters' identities and relationships, then this would have surely been elevated to another level. For all that, however, warts and all, the movie succeeds more than it doesn't. The crew's work, and the cast's, pair with technical craft to bolster the sturdier aspects of the writing, mostly outweighing the deficiencies. All things considered this might not be a must-see, and it won't do anything to change the minds of anyone who has a hard time engaging with early cinema. When all is said and done, however, 'White tiger' remains a classic, enjoyable early feature that's worth exploring, just so long as one is willing to abide its imperfections.

The name of director Tod Browning is often associated with noir. His White Tiger (1923) is available on DVD in an extremely worn but quite sharp print that seems to be missing only the end title. The evil but charismatic villain, engagingly played by Wallace Beery, joins with his supposed daughter, Priscilla Dean (not exactly over-flatteringly costumed or photographed), and hero, Raymond Griffith (playing a dramatic role here with his usual comedic skill), in robbing the rich by diverting their attention with a "mechanical" chess player. As in Browning's later Unholy Three (1925), the three crooks escape to the hills but fall out. The editing in this latter section tends to be a bit choppy, but evidently this was always the case. After completion, Universal took the editing out of Browning's hands and also saw to it that many of the inter-titles were re-written. Nonetheless, White Tiger remains a fascinating noir excursion that will delight Browning fans, despite its many unbelievable plot twists and machinations.

I think this could have been better if there had been a lot less standing around. The premise is pretty lame. A man with two )children (he seemed awfully old) is shot by police. Wallace Beery is known as a snitch. He heads off with the little girl while the boy runs off on his own, vowing to get revenge. In the future the three principles are together again, although the children (now grown) don't recognize one another. This leads to a ludicrous jewel robbery using a chess playing robot (with a guy inside) Then we go to a hideout where the three of them are convinced that the others are up to no good. The conclusion is pretty weak. Not one of Browning's best films.