Ramona

"Ramona" is a very well made yet incredibly depressing film. I mention this because sometimes you just aren't in the mood for such a sad film...and other times you are. Think about this before you watch it.

The story is in many ways a very progressive film in the way it portrays Native Americans and tries to tell a story decrying the evils of bigotry. It's odd then that like other films of the era, the 'Indian' leading character is played by a white guy. This was NOT uncommon...other folks (such as Richard Dix in "The Vanishing American") often played Indians in American movies. So, it's a film that is like two steps forward...and one step back...but it's still well worth seeing.

Ramona (Delores del Rio) is a woman who was adopted by a rich, aristocratic Spanish family in old California. The family matriarch is set on having Ramona marry her son...which by today's standards is a bit creepy. Ramona does care for Felipe...but she eventually falls for Alessandro (Warner Baxter) and when she announces she's marrying him, she's tossed out of the home.

In the following years, all sorts of awful things happen to Ramona and her new hubby. While they seem quite happy, eventually Ramona's mind snaps...and based on all the horrible things done to them, you can certainly understand why. Is there any hope for the now demented Ramona?

It's obvious that United Artists really put a lot of money into the film. While still a silent, it came out with a synchronized sound track and has stunning cinematography. A gorgeous...and depressing film.

By the way, occasionally some of the acting was exaggerated (even for a silent) but the real star, to me, wasn't del Rio nor Baxter but the woman who played the evil mother, Vera Lewis. She was pretty amazing and her face told 1001 emotions...most of which were pretty nasty! As for the film's ending...it did seem a bit weak, though the rest of it was rather amazing.

After seemingly 90 years of fans moaning, RAMONA was discovered in Gosfilmfond, restored by the Library of Congress, and last night playing of Turner Classic Movies. Based on Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel, it was immensely popular for decades, with its shocking images of racism -- how the old hidalgos of California hated the Indians! Ramona is, of course, played by Dolores Del Rio. She falls in love with Indian Warner Baxter, and is disinherited. Nonetheless, they are happy and growing in prosperity, with a beautiful daughter.... and then, of course, comes the third act.

1928 had a great crop of Hollywood movies, unmatched since, because they stopped making them, and director Edwin Carewe has cinematographer Robert Kurrle shoot Miss Del Rioto show her journey, the lightning flashes of immense emotions crossing her strong features. It's also an early movie to show off Zion National Park.

The story may be a bit obvious and foreign to a modern audience. It's Anglos who are supposed to be racist, and Hispanics and Indians who are oppressed allies. In truth, no one ever thought he wound up top dog except through his (or her) own excellence. In a universal emotion that touches us for good or ill. Just like love and compassion.

It's black and white and silent. Twenty four year old dolores del rio. Warner baxter, vera lewis, roland drew. Senora moreno has taken ramona in, but has never shown her a mother's love. When the sheep shearers arrive, ramona falls for the young, rugged alessandro, and forgets all about her half brother felipe. When senora moreno finds out, she disowns ramona, and ramona runs off to marry alessandro. The next couple years are not easy for the young couple. It's a great restoration! Picture and sound quality are both amazing. And the story itself is mostly riveting. So much happiness, as well as tragedy and loss. No wonder they have remade this story over so many times. The author herself had died forty years earlier; helen jackson had died in 1885, from cancer at age 54. The trivia section tells us that the director carewe was chickasaw himself, which probably helped this film get the respect and funding that it deserved. Carewe died at 56, from heart issues.

"Ramona" is a women's picture all the way. There is much weeping, strife and bitterness and, of course, redemption at the end. This version is the third of four that have been brought to the screen since 1910 and is the last silent rendition. It is an oddity in that it is a romance/western, and there are very few of those.

As stated by the reviewer above, it stars Warner Baxter, and Dolores Del Rio as Ramona. The picture gets a big boost by the presence of hatchet-faced Vera Lewis as Ramona's step-mother, who steals each scene she's in with her fierce presence. By turns, the three principals suffer and reflect a great deal of sorrow. Often the mood is broken by cue cards, this being a silent picture, and so the level of grief is ramped up to bridge the presence of the cue cards. No such problem existed with the 1936 sound version. Overall I thought this silent version was more effective in conveying the feelings of the players.

This film played last week at Capitolfest in Rome,N.Y. A print was found in the Czechoslovakian Film Library and was updated and restored by the Library of Congress.

RAMONA (United Artists, 1928), directed by Edwin Carewe, stars Dolores Del Rio in this silent screen adaptation to the 1884 book by Helen Hunt-Jackson. More of a curiosity today for those who have seen the lavish 1936 Technicolor sound edition starring Loretta Young and Don Ameche, especially when comparing both editions in visuals and style. Previously filmed in the silent era first as a 1910 short subject starring Mary Pickford and Henry B. Walthall, under the direction of D. W. Griffith, and again as a 1916 feature directed by Donald Crisp starring Adda Gleason and Monroe Salisbury, this third retelling features Del Rio and Warner Baxter, it's another grand mix of romance with racial prejudices set in "Early California - in the colorful days of the Spanish Dons."

The story introduces Ramona (Dolores Del Rio), a half-breed Indian girl who was adopted by Senora Moreno (Vera Lewis), wealthy Spanish sheep rancher. She has a son, Don Felipe (Roland Drew), whom she favors over Ramona by finding fault in everything and anything she does. After three years convent educated, Ramona returns to her hacienda where her beauty attracts the attention of Alessandro (Warner Baxter), the captain of the sheep shearers, and son of the last chief of the Temecula Indians. Good friends with Felipe and worker for Senora Moreno's ranch land, Alessandro finds love with Ramona and marries her under the officiation of their good Franciscan friend monk, Father Salvierderra (John T. Prince). Senora Moreno, who disapproves of their union, tells Ramona of her heritage that her late mother was Indian and her father white. Realizing where she belongs, she goes away with Alessandro where they take refuge in a cottage in the mountains. Following the birth of their daughter, a series of unfortunate events take place. As their homeland attacked by white bandits finds Ramona a wandering outcast while Don Felipe, whose mother has since died, desperately leaves his ranch hoping to find her. Other cast members include Mathilde Comont (Mardya); Michael Visaroff (Juan Canito); Jess Cavin (The Bandit Leader); and Shep Houghton (The Mexican Boy).

As much as RAMONA is a reflection of the times depicted in both motion picture and book from which this is based, it can also be classified the story being the best of times, the worst in times, and difficult of times for its leading characters. The best of times comes with Ramona's wonderful relationship with her half-brother, and romance with Alessandro. The worst of times as Ramona is being treated differently because of her heritage; Alessandro being refused treatment for his sick daughter by a white doctor, and later he being accused as a horse thief by a settler, who refuses to hear his explanation. Regardless of circumstances in how the American Indians have been mistreated and misjudged may cause some uneasiness to view, performances overall are believably played thanks to its fine direction and good location scenery.

After many years of being listed a lost movie with no prints to have survived, RAMONA was discovered in Prague in 2010, restored, rescored and theatrically screened for the first time in decades in 2014. RAMONA made its cable television premiere August 19, 2020, on Turner Classic Movies, hosted by Jacqueline Stewart. Though presented by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, it's a pity the original synchronized musical score, sound effects and theme song to "Ramona," didn't survive the print to be included for its television presentation. Having been discovered and shown at all certainly makes RAMONA worthy of its movie history and heritage. (*** peace pipes)