A decent speeded of a sloppy story. Lon Chaney gives a performance of an ancestor of Paul Revere and his old man makeup is not as convincing. The aged beard &* whiskers gives hint at the character Jan in the lost film "Tower of Lies"(1925). Franklyn Farnum(no relation to William or Dustin) is the star of this Universal movie. The picture moves so fast you may have to watch more than once to follow the denouement. Edith Johnson is the leading actress here playing Chaney's daughter. The film also boasts a zippity car chase that verges on Sennett knockabout. The picture is directed by Joseph DeGrasse. His brother Sam Degrasse, one of silent films slickest villains, is a handsome costar. This film, which is based on a story by Richard Harding Davis, was lost for decades until a copy was located in the 1990s.
11 Reviews
Odd and Interesting
Rainey-Dawn12 March 2016
I found this film odd and interesting. It's not half bad but not the better stuff I've seen from Chaney. At first the film seemed a bit boring but once Paul Revere Forbes (Lon Chaney) goes into hiding the film builds steam quickly and become a really good film.
I have read the film was originally 80mins long but cut down to 60mins for the screen. Now version I have seen is just shy of 40mins which will explain why it's odd - there are some parts missing but I'm not sure if they are part of the "key" or just time filling scenes.
Anyway, it's a pretty good movie from what I have seen. And Chaney is good in the end - just not the best movie he's played in.
6/10
I have read the film was originally 80mins long but cut down to 60mins for the screen. Now version I have seen is just shy of 40mins which will explain why it's odd - there are some parts missing but I'm not sure if they are part of the "key" or just time filling scenes.
Anyway, it's a pretty good movie from what I have seen. And Chaney is good in the end - just not the best movie he's played in.
6/10
Delightful Scent Of The Past
FerdinandVonGalitzien22 March 2007
"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/
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/
Interesting performance by Chaney
plato-1112 November 2000
Warning: Spoilers
(Contains Spoilers)
Even though we only see him for the beginning part and most of the end of the movie, Lon Chaney, as Paul Revere Forbes, completely steals the picture.
His character works at a bank, and is a descendant of Paul Revere. One night he notices some money is missing, and confronts the bank's owners. They hit him over the head, and believing him dead, dump the body. Then, towards the end of the movie, his daughter finds him living in a cabin, almost completely insane, and waiting for the time when he can get back at the Peabodys. Years of hero- worship for Paul Revere has snapped him back to the Revolutionary War, and so his daughter's boyfriend pretends to be Paul Revere to get the ledger page from Forbes. It works, and the Peabodys are arrested. It ends happily with Chaney's mind beginning to clear.
This movie was made early in Lon Chaney's career, and he gives a fascinating performance. The Chaney magic starts to shine through when Forbes is insane. Other than Chaney, though, this picture isn't anything out of the ordinary. I recommend it to serious Chaney or silent film fans.
7/10 (all due to Lon Chaney)
Even though we only see him for the beginning part and most of the end of the movie, Lon Chaney, as Paul Revere Forbes, completely steals the picture.
His character works at a bank, and is a descendant of Paul Revere. One night he notices some money is missing, and confronts the bank's owners. They hit him over the head, and believing him dead, dump the body. Then, towards the end of the movie, his daughter finds him living in a cabin, almost completely insane, and waiting for the time when he can get back at the Peabodys. Years of hero- worship for Paul Revere has snapped him back to the Revolutionary War, and so his daughter's boyfriend pretends to be Paul Revere to get the ledger page from Forbes. It works, and the Peabodys are arrested. It ends happily with Chaney's mind beginning to clear.
This movie was made early in Lon Chaney's career, and he gives a fascinating performance. The Chaney magic starts to shine through when Forbes is insane. Other than Chaney, though, this picture isn't anything out of the ordinary. I recommend it to serious Chaney or silent film fans.
7/10 (all due to Lon Chaney)
Beat Up But Interesting!
JohnHowardReid17 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I'd like to give this movie more than seven points out of ten, but only one print seems to have survived from 1917 and it's in a somewhat beat- up condition. The original 80 minutes or so feature was originally cut down to 60 minutes for the 16mm Kodascope edition and the present Grapevine Video print runs only 51 minutes. But although the story is just a mite difficult to follow a few times, you can soon pick it up and at least one of the original tinted episodes is reasonably intact. The movie was produced on a sizable budget too, with some big crowd scenes, car chases and mob violence action. Lon Chaney didn't impress me over much in his early scenes, but his later appearances (in both senses of that word) are top notch. Nonetheless, I thought that Beatrice Forbes stole the movie. She was so convincing in one of her scenes that she made me cry! Director Joseph De Grasse also bears watching and I hope more of his work has survived!
The Most Popular Girl Who No-One Knows!!
kidboots10 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Even before she finished college Edith Johnson became known as the "Kodak Girl" and also "The Most Photographed Girl in the World". Her face appeared everywhere in all Kodak advertisements and her celebrity resulted in a film contract at Selig where she eventually married her leading man. Both of them found a new home at Universal where they stayed until the early 1920s.
"The Scarlet Car" was a Universal Bluebird release - more ambitious than the low budget Red Feathers but not as prestigious as Jewels. Mr. Forbes (Lon Chaney in an early character part) is fanatically proud of the fact that he is a direct descendant of Paul Revere but he also has a regular life as a clerk at the local bank and when he notices the bank funds have been embezzled to the tune of $35,000 he is determined to bring the bank manager and his son to justice. I think this is where a chunk of the film (about a reel) is missing because a fight ensues - Forbes suddenly goes "missing" and it is easy enough for Peabody Snr. and Jnr. to spread the evil rumour that Forbes had something to do with the missing money.
Beatrice Forbes (Johnson) is distraught and is taken in by the Peabodys where Jnr. thinks it will be a piece of cake for her to reciprocate his feelings. But Beatrice loves Billy (Franklyn Farnum who worked in films for over 45 years) - he is a young "would be" hoodlum whose father has just spent his last bank repayment in bailing him out of a scrape. Billy comes home and "mans up", vowing he will work hard to restore his father's shattered faith and also to put the ailing business back on it's feet. With their new found prosperity they buy a second hand car - a scarlet one that they get cheap because of it's connection to Forbes, being the so-called "death car" and while cleaning it up Billy discovers an incriminating letter implicating the Peabodys as responsible for the crime!!
Billy rushes in to inform Beatrice and finds her distraught as Jnr. has rushed her into an engagement party. She and Billy do a moonlight flit, Jnr. in hot pursuit until they find themselves in a lonely mountain cabin and face to face with Forbes, his mind gone from too much fanatical hero worship and an almost fatal blow to the head. Billy must find that hidden ledger page but now Forbes has assumed the role of Paul Revere and only by recreating that time and the famous ride can Billy save the day.
The last reel is an onslaught of vehicles of every description converging on the cabin, there is a keystone cops air about the chase and it's amazing to think of so many people and cars and carriages, weird machines, all coming from so small a town!!
"The Scarlet Car" was a Universal Bluebird release - more ambitious than the low budget Red Feathers but not as prestigious as Jewels. Mr. Forbes (Lon Chaney in an early character part) is fanatically proud of the fact that he is a direct descendant of Paul Revere but he also has a regular life as a clerk at the local bank and when he notices the bank funds have been embezzled to the tune of $35,000 he is determined to bring the bank manager and his son to justice. I think this is where a chunk of the film (about a reel) is missing because a fight ensues - Forbes suddenly goes "missing" and it is easy enough for Peabody Snr. and Jnr. to spread the evil rumour that Forbes had something to do with the missing money.
Beatrice Forbes (Johnson) is distraught and is taken in by the Peabodys where Jnr. thinks it will be a piece of cake for her to reciprocate his feelings. But Beatrice loves Billy (Franklyn Farnum who worked in films for over 45 years) - he is a young "would be" hoodlum whose father has just spent his last bank repayment in bailing him out of a scrape. Billy comes home and "mans up", vowing he will work hard to restore his father's shattered faith and also to put the ailing business back on it's feet. With their new found prosperity they buy a second hand car - a scarlet one that they get cheap because of it's connection to Forbes, being the so-called "death car" and while cleaning it up Billy discovers an incriminating letter implicating the Peabodys as responsible for the crime!!
Billy rushes in to inform Beatrice and finds her distraught as Jnr. has rushed her into an engagement party. She and Billy do a moonlight flit, Jnr. in hot pursuit until they find themselves in a lonely mountain cabin and face to face with Forbes, his mind gone from too much fanatical hero worship and an almost fatal blow to the head. Billy must find that hidden ledger page but now Forbes has assumed the role of Paul Revere and only by recreating that time and the famous ride can Billy save the day.
The last reel is an onslaught of vehicles of every description converging on the cabin, there is a keystone cops air about the chase and it's amazing to think of so many people and cars and carriages, weird machines, all coming from so small a town!!
The Scarlet Car is a solid Lon Chaney film.
lhmcm21 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The Scarlet Car is a 1917 silent drama starring Lon Chaney and Edith Johnson. It follows the story of a suing for embezzlement, and the man getting sued, played by Lon Chaney.
Being only 50 minutes, it's little more than a brief excursion into the life of a man and those in his life once his life goes downhill. But for what it is, fans of Lon Chaney and silent film will enjoy it. There is entertainment to be found in the drama and the clever hiding of an import paper inside of the leg of a table.
It's a small film-there's not much to it-but for fans of classic film, this is a solid way to spend 50 minutes of your time.
Being only 50 minutes, it's little more than a brief excursion into the life of a man and those in his life once his life goes downhill. But for what it is, fans of Lon Chaney and silent film will enjoy it. There is entertainment to be found in the drama and the clever hiding of an import paper inside of the leg of a table.
It's a small film-there's not much to it-but for fans of classic film, this is a solid way to spend 50 minutes of your time.
Bank robbers
nickenchuggets17 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While Lon Chaney is one of my favorite actors due to his work in such classics of the silent era as Phantom of the Opera, Tell It to the Marines among others, many of his early movies are just hard to comment on. I attribute this to fairly confusing storylines as well as the fact that most of his early films are gone forever. The ones that did survive more often than not have at least some kind of footage missing due to damage or some other reason. This film from 1917 has Chaney playing someone who still thinks he's in the Revolutionary War, which is nice since I always enjoyed history. The movie begins with an employee at a bank, Paul Revere Forbes (Lon Chaney) finding out that his boss, Cyrus (and also his son Ernest) have embezzled thousands of the bank's dollars, and then threw it all away by having an investment not pay off. Forbes, a descendant of Paul Revere, tries to bring to everyone's attention his boss' illegal activities, but Cyrus punches him out during a conference. When Forbes doesn't wake up, a guy named Henry takes Forbes (thinking he's dead) into a car that he owns. Meanwhile, Forbes' daughter Beatrice (Edith Johnson) is singled out by Ernest for marriage. Shortly after, a prisoner named Billy is bought out of prison by his father, Samuel, who planned to pay back Cyrus' bank but spent all the money on the bail instead. After settling old scores and getting people who owe his father things to cooperate, Billy restores his father's prosperity. Eventually, the car is found destroyed in a desolate area and Henry is dead. Billy takes advantage and runs off with Beatrice, trying to convince her that Ernest isn't worth her time. While he and Billy fight, Beatrice comes across a cabin and finds Forbes in it, surprisingly still alive. He is nuts and thinks he is Paul Revere. Forbes, mentally shaken up by the accident, has a piece of a bank ledger hidden somewhere in the cabin that is able to convict Cyrus and Ernest, but he says only George Washington himself is allowed to see it. Ernest goes back to town and tells people Billy has kidnapped Beatrice, so a mob is formed and closes in on the cabin. Beatrice gets a psychiatrist to help her father, and gets him to turn over the paper. The mob tar and feather Cyrus and Ernest instead of Billy, and the latter marries Beatrice. While this film was quite confusing, I thought the visuals were some of the nicest I've seen in a silent movie, specifically the night scenes that take place near the cabin. Chaney, while not looking as convincing as some of his other roles, still lives up to his reputation as the man of 1000 faces. I just wish he appeared more, and the fact that he's not the antagonist is kind of a deal breaker. I'm used to seeing him be the main reason why characters in a silent film have to look behind them every 5 seconds. To summarize, I think Chaney's career got much better in the 1920s, as basically all his definitive classics are to be found somewhere in that decade. I'm not saying this film is bad, it's just that it doesn't really stand out when compared to other things Lon has been involved with. At least the print I saw doesn't really have any damage on it, and these silent movies always seem to have wonderful music.
Early Chaney
Michael_Elliott29 February 2008
Scarlet Car, The (1917)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Paul Revere Forbes (Lon Chaney) works at a small bank but he's also the distant relative of the Paul Revere, which makes his brag all the time. One day he catches his boxes trying to cover up some missing money and threatens to tell on them but they accidentally kill him--or so they think. Months later the man reappears to try and bring justice to the crooks. This is certainly a lesser Chaney film, although he is pretty good in it. His wacked out hair is certainly worth a brief look but the main players and the story are pretty dull.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Paul Revere Forbes (Lon Chaney) works at a small bank but he's also the distant relative of the Paul Revere, which makes his brag all the time. One day he catches his boxes trying to cover up some missing money and threatens to tell on them but they accidentally kill him--or so they think. Months later the man reappears to try and bring justice to the crooks. This is certainly a lesser Chaney film, although he is pretty good in it. His wacked out hair is certainly worth a brief look but the main players and the story are pretty dull.
Rather dull but some redeeming qualities
guy-bellinger9 March 2021
Paul Revere Forbes, a cashier in the bank run by Ernest Peabody and his father Cyrus, discovers one day that the two men are laundering money in the establishment. They decide to get rid of the troublemaker.
A curiosity. Despite being dull on the whole and although Lon Chaney hardly has the opportunity to shine in the role of an old accountant, Joseph DeGrasse's film surprises on occasion. Note the night sequence in the rain (a feat for a cinematographer of the time), the early use of flash-backs, one of which is even false (i.e. distorted by the lies of Peabody's son) and, on the dramatic level, the intervention in the action of the War of Independence patriot Paul Revere!
A curiosity. Despite being dull on the whole and although Lon Chaney hardly has the opportunity to shine in the role of an old accountant, Joseph DeGrasse's film surprises on occasion. Note the night sequence in the rain (a feat for a cinematographer of the time), the early use of flash-backs, one of which is even false (i.e. distorted by the lies of Peabody's son) and, on the dramatic level, the intervention in the action of the War of Independence patriot Paul Revere!
Lon Chaney's light beginning
happytrigger-64-3905175 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Lon Chaney shot around 60 movies with director Charles de Grasse who was his first dedicated director just before Tod Browning. They shot mostly short movies, I haven't seen any of them, but there might be some interesting titles, as there are original scenes in this "Scarley car" like the car chase, Lon Chaney as the witness who cannot tell the truth because he's crazy, the wrong guilty trying to find a way for crazy Chaney to tell the truth and some more. A pleasant Chaney picture but far from a Tod Browning - Lon Chaney.
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