"The Eternal Struggle" (1923) stars Earle Williams, Pat O'Malley, Renée Adorée, Barbara Lamarr, Wallace Beery, Josef Swickard, and others in a story of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I must admit that I almost shudder whenever I see it's another one of...those. There's going to be snow and snow shoes and Mounties mounted or on a sled and treachery and treacherous this and that and this and that...
What I was extremely happy about was the fact that Joe Harvat has saved this film from oblivion and the doom of dust to dust. And he's done a really superb job! What's also really good is the fact that we have another Renée Adorée film, another Barbara Lamarr film, another Wallace Beery film, and we get to see silent star Earle Williams who was a pinnacle star at the beginning of feature films in his hey day and Pat O'Malley who seems to have been in half of the films of the silent era (but who's rarely even a footnote in film stories about the silent era today: not to be confused with J. Pat O'Malley, he still is credited with 450 films!!). As for Josef Swickard - - - I think of the last seven or eight silent films I've watched, he's a key character in most of them! Who'd a thunk it?
Let's begin by saying that this film is really of its day - - - the 20s. It's dated in that respect, but it's also a legacy because of that. So, here's what's up: after the first twenty or twenty-five minutes I was ready to turn this thing off. It not only got boring - really boring - but was getting repetitive to the point of - - - intense boredom. Then - - - suddenly the piece took off, as if I'd been on a tarmac waiting for the traffic to clear so I could take off. The film got going. Nay, it got ripping! It ripped and ripped and ripped. Suddenly we were in the water in a canoe on rapids - - - and I mean RAPIDS! This kept a-going for quite some time and I could hear David Drazin's piano really cranked up and keys a-flappin', and I was transported just as if I were in a theater in the silent days.
Not a great film, but if you stick it out to the end this will give you your popcorn's worth. Thanks, Joe! A good evening.
