Nomads of the North

This is one of those films made before Chaney became a great star and is, sadly, just another potboiler. Chaney himself overacts wildly and you might be forgiven for thinking this movie was made ten years earlier. Betty Blythe is no more than homely.Lewis Stone acts with dignity and is understated throughout, though scenes of him looking for Chaney are too obviously posed, a little like the much mocked "catalogue" pose. Greatest credit goes to Brimstone and Neewa who consistently maintain their standards throughout the film. There is a rather feeble use of miniatures in the storm at night scene, but the great forest fire is obviously genuine and there are some wonderful shots of the northern landscape which, on my copy, are backed by a fairly suitable classical track-it may be Tchaikovsky, but I'm not certain.

Lon Chaney, the "Man of a Thousand Faces," has but one face in this tepidly plotted melodrama about Raoul Challoner away from the woman he is to marry as she is being cruelly coerced into marriage by the landlord's son - seeing her aging and deathly father has not paid anything for the last two years. Add to the mix Lewis Stone, a Canadian Mountie who loves Nanette but she loves Raoul. Such is the premise behind Nomads of the North, and while not a wholly unsatisfying story - it is a certainly incredible one. Too much is asked of the audience to believe. Nonetheless, the timing and pace of the film oozes energy. Some of the cutesy moments with the bear and dog were entertaining(though does grow old quickly). Chaney wildly overacts and gives none of his customary pathos to this earlier role. He is pretty one-dimensional to be quite frank. Stone fairs much better actually having some range, and the female lead Betty Blythe is credible. There are some terrific action scenes culminating with the raging(real) fire in the woods that did indeed give Chaney, Blythe, and Stone real burns and landing them in the hospital for weeks. Those were the days of film-making when lives were deemed cheaply in order to make a good film. Nomads of the North is certainly not a great film but definitely is an entertaining film. Most people tracking it down today are doing so to be Chaney completists(guilty as charged) and would/should find this one of his most lackluster, weak portrayals.

...from director David Hartford. In a remote forest community named Fort O'God, the local company boss Duncan McDougall (Melbourne MacDowell) rules with an iron fist. His sleazeball son Bucky (Francis McDonald) has the hots for Nanette (Betty Blythe) who is apparently the only girl of marrying age in the area. She rebuffs Bucky's advances, though, just as she turns down a marriage proposal from nice-guy Mountie Mike O'Connor (Lewis Stone), because her heart belongs to long-missing trapper Raoul Challoner (Lon Chaney). When Bucky convinces Nanette that Raoul is dead, she agrees to marry him, but Raoul, along with his pet dog and pet bear, shows up in time to stop the wedding. This eventually leads to violence, and Raoul and Nanette head out into the vast Canadian wilderness to live as fugitives. O'Connor is assigned to track them down and arrest them.

Part of this plays as overwrought melodrama, other parts as outdoor nature comedy, with long passages of Chaney's pets cavorting in the woods. Some of the pets' shenanigans would give the modern day ASPCA palpitations, but no overt animal cruelty is shown. Chaney gets to play a normal, romantic leading man, which is odd, and also a bit boring. Stone is square-jawed, and already sports all-white hair. I'm sure the outdoor footage was a treat for viewers at the time.

Adapted for the screen for his own production company from his 1919 novel of the same name by James Oliver Kurwood, it comes as little surprise that Kurwood's book was later filmed by Disney (much changed) as 'Nikki, Wild Dog of the North' in 1961.

Chaney completists, take heed, his role is billed third, although he actually has more screen time than top-billed Lewis S. Stone (as he is indentified in the credits); the real stars being Walter L. Griffin's superb outdoor photography, the cute team of a bear called Neewa and his four-legged friend Brimstone, and leading lady Betty Blythe; in roughly that order.

The rather one-note positivity of Chaney's role has been the subject of complaints; but this was still early days and he hadn't yet become as closely associated with macabre melodrama as he soon would. I found it refreshing to see him looking so dashing and handsome and getting the girl at the end. (Usually when you see Chaney looking this bright-eyed and bushy-tailed it's at the start of a flashback and something TERRIBLE promptly happens to him; it's nice to see him get a break for once.)

If it weren't Lewis Stone week at Hot Toasty Rag, and if I didn't have my heart set on reviewing the oldest movie of his I could get my hands on, I would not have sat through Nomads of the North. Now I finally understand why people today don't like silent movies. It's nearly two hours, extremely boring, predictable, and very overacted.

Betty Blythe stars as the woman on the mountaintop that every man in the movie wants. She's also the only woman in the movie, so they don't appear to have much choice. Ranger Lewis Stone is in love with her and hikes miles out of his way just to call on her at home. The wealthy, and evil, log baron Francis McDonald is also in love with her, but Betty refuses his offer of marriage because she's waiting for her old boyfriend, Lon Chaney, to come back to her. Francis pays a stranger to tell Betty that he witnessed Lon's death, but Lon comes back to town just in time to object at their wedding ceremony. Betty and Lon are married, but when he accidentally kills a man, they go on the run in the wilderness.

Folks, you don't have to rent this movie. I watched it for you, so you can just pretend you've seen it. I've never seen a Lon Chaney movie, but it's clear I picked the wrong one to start with. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and not hold Nomads of the North against him during the next movie I see. He has a pet bear cub he cuddles and plays with as well as kisses, but that's not worth sitting through nearly two hours. This is one of those silent movies that give the others a bad reputation.