The Wicked Darling

Wicked Darling, The (1919)

*** (out of 4)

Mary Stevens (Priscilla Dean) is a lifelong criminal now making her living by serving as a pickpocket for "Stoop" Connors (Lon Chaney). Mary meets a guy named Kent (Wellington Playter) and decides to turn her life around but her last gig she stole some priceless necklace and Coonors won't leave her alone until he has them. This is a very sweet romantic drama with a strong morality side to it. Director Tod Browning adds all sorts of class to the film, which is very fast paced and contains a wonderful visual style. Chaney is good as usual but it's Playter who really steals the film.

A solid melodrama in itself, "The Wicked Darling" is most noteworthy now for the supporting performance of Lon Chaney, in the kind of villainous role that he performed as well as any actor of his time (or just about any other time, for that matter). The movie has recently been restored from one badly damaged print and a few scraps of information, and the restorers have done an impressive job indeed piecing together almost all of the original feature.

Priscilla Dean has the lead role, as a good-natured pickpocket caught up in a bad crowd, among them being Chaney's vicious character. A chain of events leads Mary (Dean's character) to develop a friendship with an upper class gentleman (played by Wellington Playter) who has recently lost both his fortune and his fiancée. The two of them go on to face a series of crises, tests, and menaces, many of them instigated by Chaney's character.

It's a story like many others of its era, but Tod Browning's direction keeps it from being ordinary, adding some good touches and details, and getting good performances from most of the cast. Chaney, though, is the one that stands out. He has no disguises or detailed make-up this time, but he makes full use of every opportunity to portray a cold-hearted crook who forms a formidable obstacle to the happiness of the heroine and the man she loves. As a result, it's quite a bit more interesting and memorable than most movies of its kind.

Human curiosity is one of those primal feelings that the aristocracy share with coarse people; the more bizarre and obscure the subject, the more interested are the aristocrats. Strange places are especially fascinating even if such locales are the slums, the very opposite of aristocratic neighbourhoods.

But to travel to the slums is a dangerous outing so in order to satisfy aristocratic curiosity about these nether regions (while not overlooking the need for protection on these peculiar journeys) aristocrats need an expert guide to be able to take a safe walk on the wild side ( as an old German proverb says) so how can one do better than turning to Herr Tod Browning?

Thanks to Herr Browning's expertise, this Herr Von recently watched (from a safe distance) slum specimens like unscrupulous pawnbrokers, greedy landladies, violent waiters, hardened criminals, ruined men and working girls, all bizarre and curious fauna for an aristocrat ( especially the working girls) that are depicted carefully in the film "The Wicked Darling" (1919).

It is well-known that Herr Browning had a special likeness for those underprivileged persons who were the main characters of many of his films, works that could be great or obscure but were always astounding and unique. "The Wicked Darling" is one of his early silent films that is also one of Herr Browning's many collaborations with Herr Lon Chaney; they were a perfect team.

The film is characteristic of many of Herr Browning films and also displays a sarcastic sense of humour that this Herr Graf likes specially (Surely the ending is meant as a joke with our gutter heroes finding a new and peaceful life as farmers, surrounded by impassive cows rather than dangerous criminals.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must return to the peaceful isolation ward at the Schloss.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

1919 was a pivotal year for Lon Chaney. His appearance in THE MIRACLE MAN (now lost) was the turning point in his career. It was also the year that he made the two films showcased on this release from Flicker Alley (originally released by Image Entertainment). These movies feature two of the silent era's greatest directors in Maurice Tourneur and Tod Browning. Chaney's longtime collaboration with Browning would really bear fruit in the late 1920's but THE WICKED DARLING marked the first time that they worked together. Browning's vivid directorial touch is readily apparent in the realistic lowlife settings and the colorful characters who populate them. The film was originally made as a vehicle for Priscilla Dean, Universal's big female star at the time. She was perky, resourceful, and surprisingly modern in her movements and expressions. Virtually all of her films are lost which is why she's forgotten today. This film was long thought lost until a single print turned up in Holland. Although missing some frames and scarred by mildew in places, the surviving 35mm footage looks remarkably good.

The second feature, VICTORY, looks close to how it must have looked when it was first released with a crisp, clear picture and color tints although I wonder if some footage is missing as the film seems rather abrupt in places. Based on a lesser Joseph Conrad novel, the film was directed by Maurice Tourneur who was one of the great visual stylists of the silent era. His use of light and shadow in the scene with Chaney and Wallace Beery anticipates film noir by 20 years (his son Jacques Tourneur would make several notable film noirs in the 1940's). He began his career as a painter in France and created several painting like effects in his movies. Check out his 1920 version of LAST OF THE MOHICANS and you'll see what I mean. Lon gives two very different performances in these movies that really showcase his genius. While both are criminals they are as different in characterization as the make-ups Chaney created for them. DARLING's "Stoop" Connors is a humorless street bully while VICTORY's Ricardo is a deadly killer with a sense of humor. Actress Seena Owen was in D. W. Griffith's INTOLERANCE three years before VICTORY and would be in Erich von Stroheim's QUEEN KELLY in 1928.... For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

I'm not supposing it's true across the board, but it's striking that many of the films Tod Browning made were characterized by a vivid visual presentation that was all but fantastical in and of itself, even if the same weren't true of the content. This fits neatly into that sensibility, with rather vibrant sets, costume design, and even hair and makeup to greet us even within the first minutes. Factor in the unmistakable visage of Lon Chaney and the immediate charm of Priscilla Dean, and unless everything else about the picture went terribly wrong then it's all but guaranteed to be enjoyable. Thankfully, as the length advances it's clear that this is indeed well made, and worthy of remembrance. It may not be an absolute must-see, but for fans of the silent era above all, 'The wicked darling' is worth checking out.

Dean gets the starring role and stands out most but the whole cast, also including Wellington A. Playter and Spottiswoode Aitken, give fine performances of swell personality and nuance. I might argue that they even best what one might say of some other early silent features, where the exaggerated body language and facial expressions of theater were predominant; the acting here somewhat seems like a bridge between the two styles. Meanwhile, it's worth repeating that those behind the scenes really did turn in some excellent work; while silent movies certainly relied on strong visuals generally, some are more noteworthy for their imagery than others, and I rather believe that 'The wicked darling' is one of the standouts. If I've any especial critiques it might be that the editing is decidedly curt and choppy at points, with cuts from shot to shot or moment to moment exceeding the brusqueness one may sometimes forgive owing to either limited technology or print degradation. Even this doesn't severely detract from the viewing experience, however, and the quality well outshines this weakness.

True, the story is fairly common material for the era, the saga of a girl of low circumstances and rickety morals who makes good while her even more unsavory fellows don't. Yet who says every film has to be perfectly original (you're asking for trouble) or a beacon of singular brilliance (so few are)? Even if we're familiar with the brunt of the tale, it's written well, with characters both sympathetic or unlikable, and appreciable scene writing. Browning was no slouch, demonstrating solid capability as a director well before those titles that would be his most enduring claims to fame. And it should be said, too, that while the surviving print definitely suffered from deterioration before it was digitized, at large the fundamental image here is gratifyingly sharp, unquestionably surpassing what no few of its contemporaries were able to achieve; whether one wishes to credit cinematographer Alfred Gosden for this aspect or otherwise, it's notable and commendable.

Once again, there's nothing about 'The wicked lady' that's so piercingly fabulous as to uniformly demand viewership. It's well made in every regard - writing, direction, acting, all the contributions of the crew - with the curtness of sequencing being well outshone by the feature's value otherwise. It's also familiar, and from afar, unlikely to stand tall next to its kin. Nonetheless, simply for the fact of how strong every component part is, and the whole as a result, I dare say that maybe this is more readily recommendable, a title that should be upheld as an example of what early cinema could accomplish when everyone was firing on all cylinders. It may not be totally flawless or essential, yet if one has the opportunity to watch 'The wicked lady,' I believe it's fully deserving of one's time, and a great credit to not just all those specifically involved but the skill and ingenuity of early filmmakers broadly.