Victory

Victory (1919)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Axel Heyst (Jack Holt) lives on a deserted island where he prefers to be alone. One day he travels to town where he meets an abused woman (Seena Owen), takes pity on her and brings her back to his island. Soon her owner (Wallace Beery) sends three criminals after her. The main note here is that Lon Chaney plays one of the criminals and, as usual, he does a very nice job showing off that evil side. Holt, Owen and Beery also give fine performances, which is pretty much the only thing this film has going for it. There's some nice visuals and a nice looking erupting volcano but the story starts to drag in the middle. Directed by Maurice Tourneur.

This is a good atmospheric melodrama that successfully adapts a Joseph Conrad story of human needs and emotions, and it adds a memorable supporting performance by Lon Chaney as a bonus. The first part moves at a nice, deliberate pace, allowing the characters to define themselves and the tropic island atmosphere to sink in. Then, once it gets moving, it produces some tense moments of suspense, action, and danger.

Jack Holt plays a moody recluse who is drawn into helping out a musician played by Seena Owen. Just as things start to work out for both of them, the villains - Wallace Beery, as a brutish hotel manager, and a ruthless gang that includes Chaney's character - take over the course of events. The story is rather simple in itself, but (as is often the case in Conrad's novels) the key is to watch the characters as they respond to developments.

Holt is actually rather bland as the hero, and this is the main thing that keeps it from being one of the finest pictures of the late 1910s. Owen is quite sympathetic in her role, and often effectively underplays her character's emotions. Beery is well-cast and performs well, but it is Chaney who grabs the attention from everyone else whenever he is on the screen. Even in a supporting role like this, his attention to detail and his understanding of his character's nature come across clearly.

The cast and story work well together and with the setting. The smoldering volcano not only provides atmosphere, but is also an appropriate image for the changes taking place inside the characters, as the tense story movies towards its conclusion.

Maurice Tourneur's VICTORY was made only four years after the publication of the source novel by Joseph Conrad, and features silent film sensation Lon Chaney in an early co-starring role.

When pre WWI isolationist Jack Holt steals a girl away from predatory hotel permitee Wallace Beery, Beery sics a trio of island-hopping fortune hunters on him. Lon Chaney steals the film as the shiv-shoving Ricardo, but Seena Owen is his equal as the desperate but clever Alma. Jack Holt is the jut-jawed hero, Bull Montana (the "ape man" of 1926's THE LOST WORLD, which starred Beery) a simian heyboy and Ben Deeley is the languid, almost Ernest Thesiger-like villain of the piece.

Jules Furthman's script simplifies Conrad's novel, and provides a much happier ending, but it's still surprisingly faithful and Conrad's witty but

fatalistic voice rings loud and clear.

Axel Heyst lives comfortably as a recluse on an island. When he visits a neighboring island for supplies, he meets violinist Alma. She is mistreated by just about everyone, especially the hotel owner, August Schomberg. She begs Heyst to take her to his island, and he agrees. Schomberg decides to get her back, and enlists the aid of three weirdos: Mr. Jones, Ricardo, and Pedro. They plot to off Heyst, thinking he has a fortune hidden somewhere. In a subplot, Heyst is reluctant to get involved with Alma, and also tells her he will not kill anyone, even in self-defense. In the climax, he finally fires his gun and decides he's in love.

This is an OK flick, although Holt is not exactly my idea of a romantic lead, and he's dull, to boot. Seena Owen, as Alma, appears frumpy in earlier scenes, until somebody had the good sense to throw her in a sarong.

Wallace Beery, as Schomberg, looks like Sig Ruman. The film really belongs to Lon Chaney, as Ricardo. He probably has as much screen time as Holt, and is more fun to watch.

Pedro is played by wrestler Bull Montana, who does get to show off his physique.

Ben Deeley, in the role of Mr. Jones, with his thin off-kilter circular sunglasses, appears to be the creepiest of the lot.

I had to watch this movie three times before I finally started to catch the plot details, because it's just so beautiful to look at that I don't really care about the story. All of the Maurice Tourneur films I've seen are visually fascinating to one degree or another, but this one takes the cake, even over THE BLUE BIRD (which is admittedly a far different kind of movie). I can imagine Josef von Sternberg studying this movie for clues on how to create an exotic look out of papier mache and shadows. (Okay, that papier mache volcano looks pretty silly, but that's about the only major lapse I've noticed.) Griffith may have taught people how to edit, but I'm beginning to think Tourneur taught them how to compose the frame for depth effects and complex texture. The tinting is very beautiful, too, and I love the effect when Heyst blows out the lamp.

But once I focused on the plot, I was impressed on how well-constructed it was. The story moves along at a smooth, smart pace, and the tension builds very nicely. This is a pretty generic thriller in many ways, with a generic romance at the heart of it, but it's put together so effortlessly and with such visual charm that it seems fresh. Still, the real dramatic motor is the bad boys, particularly Lon Chaney as the psychopathic but strangely good-natured Ricardo and Ben Deeley as the cold, creepy Mr. Jones (looking like he stepped out of a Fritz Lang movie). There's also a good twist in the history and brute plan of Bull Montana's Pedro. Seena Owen's role is underwritten, but her weary, vulnerable resolve is beginning to grow on me.

Maybe this is where the movies start for me. Certainly it's the earliest movie to hold me entranced from stem to stern, although the German classics begin full-bore within a year of this. But there's still a lot more to see from the era.