A private collector allowed me to view a nitrate print of 'The Furies' that had begun to deteriorate. If it turns into vinegar soup, that's no loss. This movie is wretched. Pay attention, and don't make me go through this again...
Fifi Sands is trapped in a loveless marriage. The only two people she cares about are her teenage son Alan and her lover Owen McDonald. As the contrived plot begins to creak into life, Fifi's husband John has finally consented to give Fifi a divorce, and at last she looks forward to happiness with Owen and her son. She goes off to celebrate at a posh dinner party, only to be notified by Alan that John Sands has been murdered. And Owen is the leading suspect. Despite the antipathy between Fifi and John, their son Alan loved both parents. Now he believes that his mother conspired with Owen to murder John Sands.
SPOILERS COMING, BUT SO WHAT? Hoping to intercede on Owen's behalf, Fifi visits attorney Bedlow in his penthouse. (Never trust an attorney named Bedlow, especially if he lives in a penthouse.) Now get this. It turns out that Bedlow (played by HB Warner) is the real killer. He murdered Fifi's husband and framed her lover. Why? Because Bedlow wants Fifi for himself! This is ludicrous on the face of it, but made more so because in this movie (and several others) HB Warner utterly fails to convince me that he has any interest in women.
The establishing shots and dialogue for the climactic confrontation between Fifi and Bedlow take pains to emphasise the high altitude of his penthouse, so I was certain that one or the other character -- likely Bedlow -- would go crashing through one of the windows in a death-plunge, either accidentally or pushed. I was half right: Bedlow goes out the window, right enough, but he deliberately jumps when Fifi spurns him.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about the crazy sister locked in the garret, apparently left over from 'Jane Eyre'. Forget it. You don't want to know. IMDb have got this film listed as a 'mystery', but it's really more of a melodrama. The solution to the murder of John Sands comes out of nowhere, and the killer's motive is implausible. The main characters in this movie are allegedly quite posh, but the sets and costumes look distinctly downmarket.
When the opening credits revealed that this movie is based on a play by Zoe Akins, I cringed. Akins was quite popular in her day, but her dramas are overwrought and bathetic, and I'm not aware that any of them have ever been revived: they're certainly very outdated. Normally, if I've viewed an incomplete or a deteriorated print of a film, I shan't rate it ... in case the unviewable portions of the film contained some unknown pleasures that would have enhanced the film's overall rating. In this case, although I've only seen and heard bits and bobs of 'The Furies', I'm confident that the entire film is rubbish. I rate this movie zero points. As for the nitrate print I viewed ... got a match?
Fifi Sands is trapped in a loveless marriage. The only two people she cares about are her teenage son Alan and her lover Owen McDonald. As the contrived plot begins to creak into life, Fifi's husband John has finally consented to give Fifi a divorce, and at last she looks forward to happiness with Owen and her son. She goes off to celebrate at a posh dinner party, only to be notified by Alan that John Sands has been murdered. And Owen is the leading suspect. Despite the antipathy between Fifi and John, their son Alan loved both parents. Now he believes that his mother conspired with Owen to murder John Sands.
SPOILERS COMING, BUT SO WHAT? Hoping to intercede on Owen's behalf, Fifi visits attorney Bedlow in his penthouse. (Never trust an attorney named Bedlow, especially if he lives in a penthouse.) Now get this. It turns out that Bedlow (played by HB Warner) is the real killer. He murdered Fifi's husband and framed her lover. Why? Because Bedlow wants Fifi for himself! This is ludicrous on the face of it, but made more so because in this movie (and several others) HB Warner utterly fails to convince me that he has any interest in women.
The establishing shots and dialogue for the climactic confrontation between Fifi and Bedlow take pains to emphasise the high altitude of his penthouse, so I was certain that one or the other character -- likely Bedlow -- would go crashing through one of the windows in a death-plunge, either accidentally or pushed. I was half right: Bedlow goes out the window, right enough, but he deliberately jumps when Fifi spurns him.
Oh, I forgot to tell you about the crazy sister locked in the garret, apparently left over from 'Jane Eyre'. Forget it. You don't want to know. IMDb have got this film listed as a 'mystery', but it's really more of a melodrama. The solution to the murder of John Sands comes out of nowhere, and the killer's motive is implausible. The main characters in this movie are allegedly quite posh, but the sets and costumes look distinctly downmarket.
When the opening credits revealed that this movie is based on a play by Zoe Akins, I cringed. Akins was quite popular in her day, but her dramas are overwrought and bathetic, and I'm not aware that any of them have ever been revived: they're certainly very outdated. Normally, if I've viewed an incomplete or a deteriorated print of a film, I shan't rate it ... in case the unviewable portions of the film contained some unknown pleasures that would have enhanced the film's overall rating. In this case, although I've only seen and heard bits and bobs of 'The Furies', I'm confident that the entire film is rubbish. I rate this movie zero points. As for the nitrate print I viewed ... got a match?
