Static curio worth seeing for Novello and the young Cooper
The other reviewer on this page has sufficiently given the thread of the romantic narrative, so I won't repeat it here. Novello in his fourth film has little to do but stand around and look melancholy, which he does rather well. He was only 29 when this film was released and he is still a bit boyishly beautiful. Indeed Gladys Cooper was famed as a great beauty of the time, but in the one close-up they share, she seems rather plain and no match for his perfection.
The film is typical of its day. The camera moves but once during the film, it dollies in to the dream pair during the Marble Halls sequence, otherwise it is static. The shots are primarily long and medium shots with very few two shots and even fewer close-ups. Acting is alternately melodramatic and restrained. One has the feeling one is watching tableaux.
Ellen Terry has little to do as the nurse and no close-ups. Her appearance in the film is a notable one, however.
All in all, a curio, worth seeing only for fans of Novello and Cooper.
The film is typical of its day. The camera moves but once during the film, it dollies in to the dream pair during the Marble Halls sequence, otherwise it is static. The shots are primarily long and medium shots with very few two shots and even fewer close-ups. Acting is alternately melodramatic and restrained. One has the feeling one is watching tableaux.
Ellen Terry has little to do as the nurse and no close-ups. Her appearance in the film is a notable one, however.
All in all, a curio, worth seeing only for fans of Novello and Cooper.
- bbmtwist
- Aug 2, 2016