The Scarlet Car (1917)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Joseph De Grasse

Writers:

Richard Harding Davis (novel)
William Parker (writer)

Release Date:

24 December 1917 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Franklyn Farnum	...	Billy Winthrop
Edith Johnson	...	Beatrice Forbes
Lon Chaney	...	Paul Revere Forbes
Sam De Grasse	...	Ernest Peabody
Al W. Filson	...	Samuel Winthrop
Howard Crampton	...	Cyrus Peabody
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Lloyd	...	Jim Pettit

Runtime:

USA:50 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Universal Film Manufacturing Company

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Scarlet Car (1923)

Delightful Scent Of The Past

"The Scarlet Car", a film directed by Herr Joseph DeGrasse, older brother of the actor Sam DeGrasse, who obviously plays a role in this film ( in what is a good example of Amerikan nepotism… ), tells a story about bankers and crooks ( both concepts are synonymous, certainly… ) and murder and matrimony ( include here the same German comments of a moment ago ).

For the aristocracy and silent fans the most interesting aspect of this film is that it is one of Herr Chaney's earliest surviving films. Herr Chaney has a small but very important and decisive role, playing a bank cashier, Paul Revere Forbes, that works for two crooked bankers, Ernst and Cyrus Peabody ( Howard Crampton and Sam DeGrasse ), father and son respectively; they forge the bank's money and Herr Forbes knows everything about this; in order to have no trouble, the crooked bankers murder Forbes, not knowing that in this way they get involved in more troubles…

Anyway Herr Chaney is so great playing his characters, even the early ones, that he plays dead superbly in the film in order to put things right, incidentally marrying his daughter Beatrice ( Edith Johnson ) to Billy Winthrop ( Franklyn Farnum ), a promising business man.

The film has a certain and delightful scent of the past, including memories of old battles and such typical local customs as tarring and feathering people, peculiar scenes of a small Amerikan village, certainly… this film seems also to be an episode of one of those early silent serials in its concept and with its narrative, including two illuminating flashbacks for the service of a final thrilling climax.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must check that the bank accounts of his fat and rich German heiresses are in order.

Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/