Beyond the Rocks

When the restored version of Beyond the Rocks received its American premiere earlier this week at the New York Film Festival I was fortunate enough to be in the audience. The amazing story of this film's recovery and reconstruction by the staff of Amsterdam's Nederlands Filmmuseum is told elsewhere on this page, so it's not necessary to repeat it here; for my part, ever since I first heard about this rediscovery over a year ago I've been curious about one thing only, and that's the quality of the movie itself. It's great that Beyond the Rocks has been found, but how good is it?

Well, it was certainly exciting to see the movie with an audience, and a thrill to see Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino in something "new," but frankly I don't think anyone will mistake Beyond the Rocks for a masterpiece of the silent cinema. It's like a sumptuously produced Harlequin romance, a 1922 soap opera in which the two stars model lots of great outfits while they suffer nobly in picturesque locales. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it's actually a lot of fun on its own terms, but it's the kind of fun you get from reading a "guilty pleasure" beach book. There's nothing wrong with a beach book as long as you're not expecting Chekhov, and nothing wrong with this film as long as you're not expecting Murnau.

The screenplay was based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, an eccentric lady best known for coining the term "It" to describe sex appeal. Madame Glyn (as she preferred to be addressed) is sometimes called the Barbara Cartland of her day, but Glyn's novels were far more outlandish than most anything you'll find in today's bookstores. Her plots were just flimsy excuses to place aristocratic lovers in exotic, secluded settings fit for delivering purple-prose speeches and engaging in steamy love-making on tiger rugs. Just consider the names of some of her characters: Princess Ardacheff, Madame Zalenska, Lord Bracondale, and let's not forget Bracondale's jilted fiancée, the unfortunate Morella Winmarleigh. Considering the silly source material it's remarkable that the filmmakers who adapted Beyond the Rocks for the screen managed to convert Glyn's tale into something halfway respectable, with a touch of dignity. At the screening I attended there were occasional giggles at moments of blatant hokum in the plotting, but I wouldn't call the film absurd over all. I think it's safe to say (although I haven't read the novel) that this is a case where the movie may be considerably better than the book.

Before seeing the film I wondered how two such iconic figures as Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino would pair on screen. Having seen it, my conclusion is that although Rudy looks great and gives a nicely nuanced performance, this is Gloria's picture all the way. Her character is at the center of the story, and it's what happens to her that matters. Swanson rises to the occasion with a stylized performance that is larger than life without ever going over the top, not even in the wrap-up sequence in the dunes of the Sahara, when the story reaches its climax and emotions peak. Gloria retains her poise and, like all the best silent stars, conveys a great deal with her eyes. Swanson was often called a "clothes horse," and throughout this film she and her co-star are both given the opportunity to show off a number of terrific costumes, most notably in a couple of gratuitous historical flashbacks apparently included solely to give the stars the opportunity to display themselves in exotic finery. A friend of mine who also saw the film said that the costumes worn in Beyond the Rocks are the real stars, and I quite agree. Mind you, this isn't solely a fashion show; this movie features not one but two bold rescues of the heroine (at sea and in the Alps) and a wild desert siege by bandits on horseback, but this isn't an action flick at heart, it's a chick flick, and the real action lies in the smoldering looks exchanged by the stars.

The print of Beyond the Rocks is in remarkably good shape for the most part, but there are some rough stretches where decomposition is noticeable, and a couple of junctures where footage is obviously missing. At the festival screening I attended, unfortunately, live music was not provided. Instead we were shown a print with a score by Henny Vrienten, and while I liked some of the music I found it a little too modern-sounding at times: at one point there's a bluesy jazz theme that's more Miles Davis than Jelly Roll Morton, pleasant enough but, in my opinion, not right for a film of this vintage. It was also unfortunate that the people who prepared the soundtrack found it necessary to dub in sound effects. I have no problem with certain ambient sounds (seagulls, dogs barking in the distance, etc.) but on this track we heard doors opening and closing, documents being unfolded, and even the sound of one hand patting another. They seemed to be trying to make the film "less silent," but for me these noises were excessive and only emphasized the absence of voices.

In sum, Beyond the Rocks is an enjoyable experience and of course a fascinating one for fans of the two stars, but it's not a film I'd use to introduce a newcomer to silent movies. God knows there are better examples of silent drama, but I'm nonetheless grateful that this film has unexpectedly emerged from obscurity as a special treat for the connoisseur, a slickly-produced, unabashedly old-fashioned romance served up with all the trimmings.

When 'Beyond the Rocks' had its initial and only performance at the London Film festival, it was undoubtedly one of the events of the year. The cinema was booked out in advance, and queues formed at the box office in the hopes of obtaining returned tickets. Irrespective of its artistic merits, the miraculously-rediscovered film was guaranteed to arouse interest.

It has to be confessed, however, that the storyline of 'Beyond the Rocks' is in itself complete and utter tosh...

It became apparent to the audience what to expect within the first few shots, where the breathless and far-from-deathless prose of the title cards raised more than a few chuckles, although the attitude in the auditorium was good-natured throughout. The film is no great work of art and never pretends to be; the plot is women's-magazine stuff, told with a straight face as it whips through a quick world tour of stereotypes, from the English seaside to the quaint Alpine inn and a desert oasis. One of the biggest -- and to give it its due, probably in this case intentional -- laughs was raised by the heroine's bewildered husband voicing the audience's own reaction to the revelation of some very undersized Egyptian ruins: "Is that all?"

I was favourably impressed by the restraint and sensitivity of Rudolph Valentino in handling this material. His performance appealed to me considerably more than that of Gloria Swanson, whose role here, to be fair, consists of little more than a series of coy, tragic or would-be dramatic poses; she suffers also, I suspect, from being the designated Star and thus made up far more heavily in the contemporary style than the other female characters. The actress whom I actually admired the most was June Elvidge, playing the small role of Valentino's sister (randomly referred to in various title cards as Ann, Anne or Anna). She gave a very sympathetic and vividly-drawn rendition of her part that contrasted somewhat with what struck me as Miss Swanson's mask-like demeanour.

Despite an expressive performance from Valentino, unfortunately we have to take the central love affair more or less on trust. There is not a great deal of chemistry in evidence. Indeed, the heroine Theodora comes across to me as rather more animated and concerned about the fate of her husband in the final scenes, than about her lover in all that precedes; I must admit to half-hoping for a last minute twist that would have her realise she has grown to love this unprepossessing figure instead! But convention is met by a different set of clichés, and young love duly has its day.

It is interesting to compare the film with the references in Swanson's own memoirs, written many years after it was deemed lost: unless it has been lost in this print to censorship or decay, there is no sequence showing 'the tango as it was meant to be danced; by the master himself', let alone featuring in this dance 'a gold-beaded and embroidered lace evening gown so shimmering and beautiful that movie-goers talked about it for the next year'. Nor, even in this 'European' version, are there any of the 'torrid kisses' of which she observes 'Poor Rudy could hardly get his nostrils flaring before the American version was over'. Either the relevant sections are forever missing, or her memory must have been confused by other Valentino pictures of the era.

The film shown in London was the 'archival version', full-frame and silent, as opposed to the print with attached soundtrack to be made available for future exhibition and sale. In place of the Vrienten score with its allegedly intrusive sound-effects, we were treated to accompaniment by the National Film Theatre's justly renowned Neil Brand. I am unable, therefore, to comment on the music other than to commend the improvisation on this occasion!

In conclusion, I cannot honestly recommend 'On the Rocks' other than as a curiosity: true, it is a relatively early production in a style unfamiliar to modern eyes, but even so I have seen earlier film that I have appreciated more. The beautiful Theodora remains largely a helpless cipher of events, the melodrama of the plot is superficial rather than absorbing, the literary standard of the titles is on occasion risible and the screen lovers fail to kindle a convincing spark. Contemporary critics reputedly disdained it, and only the innovative star pairing and mythical 'lost' status have resurrected its appeal.

But it *is*, without question, a curiosity, and as such worth seeing once by any amateur of film history or Valentino fan. Just don't expect too much...

I had a full range of impressions and emotions while watching this recently rediscovered silent film. I saw it on a big screen in Orlando (before DVD release) and my husband and I sat in the very front row so we would be right on top of it and wouldn't miss a thing.

Story aspects: Beyond the Rocks is a romantic melodrama, based on a story by Elinor Glyn. It had some typical silent film clichés and overacting, but to a veteran silent film fan this will not be distracting. Gloria Swanson plays Theodora, who loves her father and family enough to sacrifice for them by marrying an older man she does not love just because he is rich. Afterward she falls in love with Hector (Rudolph Valentino), a rich romantic young gentleman who rescues her from the clutches of death not just once, but twice. A series of circumstances leads the husband to understand his wife is in love with another man, and he goes off on a dangerous exhibition to Algeria with the aim of sacrificing himself so that the young couple can be together.

Swanson and Valentino obviously enjoyed working together, they had a nice chemistry together on screen, though it didn't strike me as a terribly passionate one. In fact there was not one single kiss scene in the entire film, a major disappointment to me (unless there was one in missing footage). The closest they come to it is one scene where she rubs her cheek against his head. There was instead much talk of duty and doing the right thing by staying away from each other as much as possible, so that the husband would not be hurt.

Style aspects: Gloria's clothes in the film were gorgeous. Valentino on the other hand looked like he was shortchanged in the wardrobe department in several scenes, where he wears a tweed suit that ill becomes him. It looks too tight and only one top button is buttoned on his suit coat, which looked odd to me. For one brief scene he looks incredibly dashing all dressed in white. This was also the first time I noticed that Valentino had a rather large horizontal scar on his right cheek! You can see details like this much better on a big screen. I have never noticed it in any Valentino film I've seen on DVD. In the beginning scenes Valentino looks so young he looks like a teenager. Delectable. Gloria on the other hand had so much makeup on that she looked much older than her years, older even than she looked in Queen Kelly! That kept putting me off. It got a little better when she started wearing sophisticated, glamorous clothes, when she did age as part of the plot.

The art direction was pretty good for a 1922 movie. The scenes on the water and in the desert were quite realistic. The interior of homes looked authentic to the time period. Obviously a great deal of thought was dedicated to the overall look of the film, to make it artistic as much as possible.

Technical aspects: The film started at 7 pm and ended at 8:15 pm, so it was roughly one hour and 10 minutes long (with a 5 minute intro). My first impression of the film was that I was disappointed the beginning titles and credits were obviously lost. The font they used for the title and star credits was a modern, simple one and not impressive. If I were restoring it I would have designed opening credits with a strong vintage look to them, perhaps using a decorative flower design border. They could have gotten ideas from similar 1922 films. To just announce their magical names, Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino, with a boring, ugly modern font was not appropriate and didn't do justice to the importance of this film find.

Most scenes had artifacts galore and missing frames. A pageant sequence was partly missing, leaving the audience with unanswered questions as to what went on during those important scenes. There were some deteriorated scenes and decomposition but most of the film was in watchable condition, and we should be thankful we have it at all.

Musical aspects: The score was a strange mixed bag of new age music with some jazzy refrains thrown in at inappropriate times. One flashback scene received some vintage sounding music but it wasn't impressively authentic. There was one nice bit of music in a hotel scene where a musician was playing some kind of elaborate string instrument and people were dancing. That was my favorite part of the score, but alas, all too brief. Overall I feel the composer was trying to sound like James Horner's music, the fellow who did James Cameron's Titanic soundtrack, but this new age, Celtic sound is just not what I prefer when I watch my silent films. Enough with the pan flutes already! I prefer period music for silents.

The absolute worst thing about this score was the constant sound effects. It was ridiculous. No audience would have heard that many sound effects when going to watch a silent film in 1922. They wouldn't have heard that many sound effects if they had seen a silent-part sound film in 1929!

My rating: I'd give this film a 7 out of 10 for the storyline itself, a typical melodrama that wasn't original, an 8 out of 10 for set design and locations, a 4 out of 10 for the "restoration" work done, a 6 out of 10 for the music score (I might have raised that to a 7 without all the sound effects!), and an 8 out of 10 for the acting.

Addendum: I have since read the 1906 novel by Elinor Glyn, it's much better than the film. I would strongly suggest people interested in this film seek out the novel.

Finally saw this via TCM's world premiere; this is the most famous film discovery of the last few years, thought to be lost for 80 years! Very good romance film that sweeps from the English coast to the Alps and the to the African desert. Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino star as star-crossed lovers who wait years to get together.

They meet when she falls from a row boat into the sea and he dives from his yacht to save her. They area attracted but she must marry a self-made millionaire to save her poor family. Later in the Alps on her honeymoon she slips from a snowy ledge and is rescued to guess who? They continue to tun into each other (because he's chasing her) until finally they all come together in the desert.

A little slow but Swanson and Valentino are two of the most charismatic stars of the 20s and they are great together.

Oh I didn't care much for the new musical score. It was boring New Age droning and didn't fit the era. Milestone made the same error with it's restoration of Piccadilly. Here the music drones along, except for a Scott Joplin number, with shards of sound effects.

Based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, the topic of "love outside marriage" was a hot one in the early 1920s. Glyn's plots are always clichés but the real magic here is the beautiful Swanson and beautiful Valentino and how they finally get to be "beyond the rocks." Parts of the film are missing but nothing major. Some parts are distressingly deteriorated but nothing to ruin the overall film. Other parts of the film are so clear you can see grain of the fabrics.

Read up on this film in Swanson's autobiography. She was friends (only) with Valentino and allowed him to be co-starred with her (she got first billing despite the new Dutch restoration that gave Valentino top billing in the closing credits) on condition she get a 3-month vacation in Europe.

Later she corrected someone who said SHE had worked with HIM. HE had worked with HER (because it was her film). Wow semantics, but in the original Swanson got billing alone above the title.

Swanson also talks about the famous tango she did with him--alas lost! I assume it was during the house party where they were readying a "pageant" and she's wearing a famous dress (they talked about it for a year, says Swanson) of white lace and shimmering gold beads. The lobby card I have from this film is a scene of Valentino and Swanson doing the tango. What a pity, but maybe the scene will be found.

At the very end of her terrific book she says people never stopped asking her if she knew where a copy of BEYOND THE ROCKS was... or MADAME SANS-GENE or the final reel from SADIE THOMPSON. You can sense her great feeling of loss.

But it's ironic that in several of her "recovered" films there are still scenes missing: the tango scene in BEYOND THE ROCKS, her Chaplin impersonation in MANHANDLED, and the final piece of SADIE THOMPSON.

I've loved silent films for years so I'm not your average film viewer, I watch as many as I can find because they're to too rare and usually uniquely entertaining. Beyond the Rocks is not your typical silent in that is the only pairing of stars two of the brightest stars in what was a lost but not forgotten film. It was only forgotten because it was lost for 80years but after the discovery in the Netherlands we finally have a chance to see it for ourselves. I first want to applaud them and all their hard work as I would any archivist in their efforts to make history available to all of us.

I had read some of the many reviews on the IMDb, and after seeing it, the reviews are quite funny. One reviewer writes how Valentino walks away with the film but was not impressed by Swanson. Another finds Swanson radiant and Valentino stiff and inexpressive. And other's thought the film's costumes were the best part! I enjoyed it mostly because the actors had charm including the dumpy old rich husband that got in and then later out of the way. The story was typical meller-drama with our sympathies being first with drowning Swanson, then the dangling mountain climber Swanson, then the trapped in a poor family Swanson turned social climber stuck married to a chubby old man she didn't love Swanson.

Valentino and Swanson never really turn on the heat on high but after kismet (aka author/scriptwriter) has brought them together repeatedly they do simmer a little.

On the whole I enjoyed seeing the film on the big screen. The "digital restoration" turned out to be that the picture image pretty sharp and is rock steady instead of jumpy and jittery. It was a detailed image with sharp focus obviously made from a 35mm nitrate print. What continually struck me as being odd is that the film was filled with artifacts like spots, dirt, specks, blotches, scratches, tears, etc. I've seen several digitally restored titles where these minor image imperfections were removed. And I'm familiar with nitrate decomposition and what that looks like and there were a couple of sections where I understand it was a necessity to see/show that's all that has survived in the source material. But, it does not look like any effort was made to clean up or correct any of the wear throughout the print. Especially, the little lines on the left side of the image caused by those tiny, stress tears at sprocket holes that dance thru out the film. I realize a lot of people probably worked hard and much money was spent on making it look as good as it does, but if the lack of money or time was a problem then why spend too much on the excessive soundtrack? I've seen hundreds of silent films and they should be presented with music that matches/compliments the action. The presentation I saw used a new soundtrack especially made for this restoration and it was not a simply piano or music track using music in a style that would have been used at the films original release. Instead we heard boat and car motors running, the gravel getting crushed under the wheels of a moving car, doors opening & closing, every footstep, papers rustling, dogs painting, background crowd murmurings, envelopes being opened, every sound under the sun except the voices of the lead actors! UGH! These background effects did not compliment the action but constantly bring attention to them selves as unnecessary and intrusive! A proper silent era film presentation has the film accompanied by music of the era that is played live and the musician interprets the mood as it is presented on screen and blends it with the mood of that particular audience. This live mixing of projected larger than life image, live music and interactions of the audience create a recipe for cinema magic! And even though I have ranted on about how I disliked the sound effects that were added to this silent motion picture I did enjoy seeing the film and would not want to prevent anyone from seeing it any way they can. But I hope when it is released another/better soundtrack is offered/optioned on the DVD in case a customer has an experience like mine. My votes, film 7 out of 10, 1950s styled jazz music 4 out of 10 and distracting modern/faked sound effects -1 out of ten.