By the Law is a 1926 film based off of the Jack London story The Unexpected. As a big fan of Jack London's Call of the Wild and White Fang I was interested in seeing how London's wilderness and survival focused work would be portrayed in a film from this time period. We are presented with 5 characters originally, and with their combined presence it is nearly impossible to foster any kind of emotional connection with any of them. However, things are made slightly better when we are left to focus on Michael, Edith and Nelson though they still lack any real depth. Kuleshov made use of a great deal of close up shots, stressing the emotion shown in the faces of his actors.
Simply put, By the Law is far from the most exciting film I have watched. Jack London's work was so dependent on vivid descriptions of the wilderness and the mental state of his main character; Kuleshov was unable to recreate that experience with technological limitations playing a major role. Technology aside, there was way too many moments where the viewer was left to watch the actors sit idly and I did not feel like these served as tension building moments that could have helped the film.
By the Law managed to do a few things well. The lone action scene was surprisingly good and managed to quicken the pace of the film. The ending of the film was also pretty good, playing right into the title of the Jack London's original work. All in all, By the Law would be considered a rather boring film by our modern standards with its mechanical nature being its downfall..
Simply put, By the Law is far from the most exciting film I have watched. Jack London's work was so dependent on vivid descriptions of the wilderness and the mental state of his main character; Kuleshov was unable to recreate that experience with technological limitations playing a major role. Technology aside, there was way too many moments where the viewer was left to watch the actors sit idly and I did not feel like these served as tension building moments that could have helped the film.
By the Law managed to do a few things well. The lone action scene was surprisingly good and managed to quicken the pace of the film. The ending of the film was also pretty good, playing right into the title of the Jack London's original work. All in all, By the Law would be considered a rather boring film by our modern standards with its mechanical nature being its downfall..