I love silent movies. Some of the best films I've ever seen have been silent movies. Not all silent movies are equal.
I can't say it's a good start to a film to needlessly relate a direly antiquated value that equates marriage, and happiness in marriage, with children. Sure, "different time," yada yada, but some ideas were outdated upon conception. Put aside that indelicacy, though, and other shortcomings remain, including a notable brusqueness of plot development amidst scenes that feel pointedly staged, and therefore contrived. I suppose that's not wholly unexpected with 'The unchastened woman' having been developed from the theater, where the runtime is divided into very distinct scenes, but count this among those silent films that seem more stilted and unnatural in the progression of the story than fluid and organic. This is especially true where minor grandiosities are inserted (a dancer; musicians); in light of the great leaps forward that the plot takes (skipping directly from "travel" to "toast!" and just as ham-fistedly to "return"); and, significantly, at the end.
True, 'The unchastened woman' isn't the only silent film to bear these marks, though I think here they are a visible burden more than in some other titles. If you can abide the difficulties, there is certainly value here. There are good ideas in the adapted screenplay; though dampened by the aforementioned faults, I think the scene writing is strong on paper, and intertitles bear some cleverness - in the related dialogue and otherwise. There's minor underhanded complexity to the characters, and I mostly like the broad concept of the story. Moreover, costume design is generally pretty sharp, and I can see the worth in the actors' performances. In particular, I get a sense of capable nuance and strength of personality from stars Theda Bara and Wyndham Standing in portraying battling couple Caroline and Hubert Knollys, and I appreciate the like contribution of Eileen Percy as Emily Madden. However, it also needs to be said that between the strained pace of narrative advancement and of the film at large, I feel like even the leads don't have substantial opportunity to demonstrate their skills, just as the screenplay itself isn't given the chance to reach its full potential.
To cap it all off, in the last ten minutes we're treated to a final turn in the plot that, in 2021, seems outrageous to the point of being nonsensical. For 80% of its length the film would seem to upraise Caroline throughout for her witty defiance - coarse methods, perhaps, but not unreasonable or unsympathetic, let alone reprehensible. Yet in the last stretch we're subjected to a different notion entirely, and I can only assume it was forced into the production to reflect the more conservative side of contemporary values in appeasement of censors. Then factor in an ending that couldn't be more ham-handed if everyone on set held slices of porcine flesh in their palms, and the needle that had ever so slightly tipped toward favor has now come to rest in a precipitous neutral position.
There are elements of 'The unchastened woman' that I like, but that which is most deserving is trapped within a hard shell that inhibits freedom of movement. Ultimately I think this is precious as a piece of cinema history - and very emphatically, as one of the few surviving pictures of Bara. Unless you're completely wild for movies, however, and for the silent era in particular, there's just no reason to go out of your way to find this, and it's recommendable mostly as a de facto monument for a specific career, and for a time long past.
