Lorna Doone

I watched this movie for the first time recently. I love it and watched it again and again. For the record, I find the score very appropriate. The score is performed by a strings orchestra. The strings seem to fit the period of the movie very well, like the score could have been written in the 1600s. If that is annoying some people, oh well.

I found the production values very impressive for a movie filmed in the early 20s.

John Bowers is a treasure. What a fine actor he was. He was a natural actor who could easily project his emotions without over-emoting. Unfortunately, not too many of his films have survived. Madge Bellamy did a credible portrayal of a sweet and innocent young girl. In my reading up on her, she really did a very good "acting" job.

There was a glaring continuity error at the end of the movie. John left the church to go after Carver in his wedding suit, arrived at Doone Gate in his work clothes, and caught up to him now wearing his wedding suit again.

With some good cinematography and a rather unsettling background score, LORNA DOONE is a movie my father always mentioned liking very much for story and content. He must have seen it when he was in his early thirties and often mentioned it as one of his favorite novels and movies.

It's the rather familiar yarn of two people kept apart by the class system who were teen-age lovers separated by fate and then reunited years later when the girl has been held hostage by pirates and reared as one of the Doone clan. The years pass and by chance, during a fateful incident in the rapids, the young man (JOHN BOWERS) drifts toward Lorna's territory. When he awakens, she's tending to him and thus their story begins again.

The title role is nicely played by MADGE BELLAMY who has a sweet, old-fashioned grace about her that makes her heroine appealing and vulnerable. She seldom goes into the silent film technique of acting, nor does Bowers, who does a splendid job as the stalwart hero.

In reading about the film, I discovered that the ruggedly handsome Bowers committed suicide by drowning fourteen years after making this film, when his stardom was on the wane with the advent of talkies. It's rumored that he was the man depicted in A STAR IS BORN, Norman Maine, who walks into the ocean toward the finish.

Summing up: Interesting tale, well told but almost too familiar for most of us who've seen variations of it or actual remakes of it over the years.

In 17th-century England, the outlaw Doone clan kidnaps a young girl, who grows up among them. The farm boy who met her just before the kidnapping eventually rescues her, and they fall in love.

I wasn't familiar with this story, having neither read the novel nor seen the various movie and TV adaptations. The bare bones of this boy-meets-girl tale are, of course, familiar to anyone; but (in this version, at least) it is fleshed out in a particularly engaging way. The graceful photography of Henry Sharp, under Maurice Tourneur's direction, is the movie's main asset. Both leads (Madge Bellamy in the title role and John Bowers as the hero) are strong. Frank Keenan, as the elderly leader of the outlaw clan and Lorna's protector, gives a fascinatingly florid performance (an improvement over his equally striking, but ridiculously slow-motion, acting in "The Coward" from 1915). Charles Hatton, who plays the hero as a boy, has a strong screen presence: it's disappointing to see from his IMDb filmography that he only made a few films and then disappeared.

The 2001 presentations of this film has a lovely background music by Mari Iijima; but unfortunately, Iijima didn't exactly score the film so much as write a few pieces for it, which are repeated without variation throughout the movie. The repetitiveness is a defect.

Lorna is a wealthy young girl who meets and loves a shepherd boy, John. After meeting him she is captured by the evil Lord Doone. Doone is softened by fatherly love for Lorna but raises her in his den of thieves. She grows into lovely womanhood, sweet and untouched by the violence around her. One day, John returns. They recognize each other and fall in love all over again. Doone's counselor wants his son to marry Lorna. He is a violent man, hated by Lorna. She spurns his proposal. He tries to force her but she is rescued by John. Doone dies during the rescue but rights his wrong and sees that Lorna returns to Society. John lets her go but follows her. Will she be the same, sweet girl or a spoiled society lady? The future holds betrayal, revenge and perhaps even murder. This movie had me on the edge of my seat. I loved it! Madge Bellamy portrays such sweetness and beauty. I didn't care too much for the score as it's pretty modern in some spots. I'd highly recommend it: 9/10.

An excellent silent film.

I like the modern music score on the version shown on TCM in March 2005. It was composed by Mari Iijima (if you're going to bad-mouth a composer, you ought to spell their name correctly...), and has nice Philip Glass-like qualities. I love modern music scores for old silent films generally (for instance, the Alloy Orchestra's work).

The film has some great cinematography, and it's worth seeing just for that. The shots of the water in several places, the beach where Lorna is kidnapped, and of mad villagers chasing on horseback are really excellent, with great texture and lighting.

Shockingly silly, abrupt ending.