La carte fatale

Although the plot is definitely one of its weaker points, it is nevertheless an entertaining and well done movie. Turner Classic Movies has recently re-mastered, restored and re-scored the film and it is quite an impressive effort. The political basis of the plot is rather hard to believe, but the love triangle is quite touching. Lon Chaney's character is very convincing, if a bit over the top (which can be quite common in silent pictures.) Leatrice Joy and John Bowers are also quite good as the lovers who second guess their original political beliefs.

An anarchist group decides that one man has lived too long. His executioner will be determined by chance. One of the group deals out cards to the rest. The one who gets the ace of hearts becomes the assassin. Two young men (Lon Chaney and John Bowers) desperately want that card. They are both courting the sole female member (Leatrice Joy), who thinks of nothing but The Cause. When Fate deals her own hand, one of the suitors (Chaney) must determine if he really loves the girl—or merely wants to possess her.

The themes of love, honor, unrequited love and self-sacrifice pervade this fine suspense thriller. The script, written by Ruth Wightman from a story by Gouverneur Morris, and directed by Wallace Worsley, is extraordinarily deft at creating and maintaining suspense. All the details—what we see and don't see; what we are told about this anarchist group and what we're left to guess; and the moment when a certain character is at last introduced—are well chosen. The film only loses its footing briefly during the fatuous intertitles near the end ("Love is construction!").

Lon Chaney is a great actor, but that doesn't mean he's perfect. He has a great face and a way of compelling our attention and sympathies. I think his main defect is best demonstrated by the scene where Lilith shows up at the door, and he expresses shock. He was clearly expecting this "shock." Lon Chaney is not always what actors call "living in the moment"—feeling things as the character feels them without anticipating the next line in the script. His ability to concentrate on his performance is said to have been intense; but he doesn't always live with his character moment by moment. The trouble is not his era's acting style. Even though people have knocked silent movie acting since the days of silent movies, the exaggerated expressions and gestures are really very powerful. So they are with Chaney.

This excellent silent film was given an enormous boost in 2000 when Vivek Maddala won a competition and was hired to write the score, a job he performed beautifully. My high rating applies to the 2000 version of this film.

In October 2000 Turner Classic Movies aired for the first time on television The Ace of Hearts. Although this may not be Lon's most famous movie it is still a good one. The movie is about a secret society who seek to rid the world of wealthy capitalist. The member who draws the ace of hearts gets to kill the capitalist. This is also a love story. Lon loves this girl who loves someone else. The girl loves the man who is going to kill the capitalist but love changes their attitude about the whole thing. The society kills it's members who betray them. Will Lon save the girl he loves? Will the capitalist be murdered? This movie now has a new music score! My hat off to TCM for airing the movie and for making the music score possible. The print is in very good shape. It's very scratchy in places but all in all very clear. What do we expect for a movie 80 years old. TCM probably used the best, if not the only, print in existance. TCM should be showing the movie soon and often from now on. The Ace of Hearts is a must for Chaney fans.

The members of a secret society vote on condemning a man to death. Two members of the society, Farralone and Forrest, are in love with the only female member, Lilith. Lilith deals cards to the members, and Forrest gets the ace of hearts, which means he has the "honor" to kill the victim the next day. Lilith agrees to marry Forrest that night, and then tries to convince him not to go through with the murder. But Forrest feels duty bound to carry out the deed. Lilith tries to get Farralone to intercede, but he offers her a bargain instead. Circumstances prevent Forrest from committing the murder, which causes the other members to condemn him to death. Farralone gets the ace of hearts. But he has another plan in mind. He begins to laugh ...

I've seen this twice, and upon further review, I can say it's an interesting story, but it's almost done in by some overacting by the three leads.

There are also plenty of holes in the film. I wanted to know how this society was formed, why it only has one female member, why Chaney has a George Washington haircut, why everyone except Bowers and Joy looks to be in their 50s or 60s, why they chose their victim (referring to him as "the man who lived too long"), etc. If you can ignore all this, you'll probably like the film.

This tense, interesting drama features a story full of suspense and a typically fine performance by Lon Chaney. The combination of an assassination plot with a romantic rivalry is hardly unique, but it works particularly well in this setting, and it is used to bring out a number of ideas with significance that go beyond the events themselves. Although set in its own era and to some degree connected with political concerns of the early 1920s, it probably works even better when it is removed from the historical context, since this allows the plot to work on a higher level.

It starts with a secret society planning the death of a powerful man who in some undefined way poses a menace to society. It's both interesting and effective that the particular offenses of 'the man who has lived too long' are never detailed. Thus, instead of focusing a debate on whether or not the specific things he has done ought to be punished, the questions become broader: whether it is right to use violence to punish a dangerous or evil person outside of the law, and whether it would ever be right to harm innocent persons in the process. These kinds of questions are at least as important now as they were at the time, and the movie provides a worthwhile perspective.

Chaney's character here has little of the make-up and disguises for which Chaney was well- known, so that his considerable acting talents do the work instead. His character is at the same time a broken-hearted suitor and a vengeful member of the radical group, often with conflicting motives, which gives Chaney lots of material to work with.

The first part sets up the story in a careful and intriguing way. The middle part moves more slowly, and focuses most of the attention on the radical couple played by Leatrice Joy and John Bowers. Both are adequate, but their scenes together sometimes lack intensity, and even in limited screen time Chaney still has the stronger presence during this stretch. The couple's agonized soul-searching then sets up some very tense moments in the last part of the movie.