Georgette Verlaine, noted actress, collapses on stage and Dr Congdon- rather a mysterious character, actually, and the only unconvincing one in the film- sends her on a rest-cure at ye olde country farm of Crooning Water (I'm not making this up, you know) with Horace Dornblazer (a name that escaped from an unpublished novel by Thomas Hardy, no doubt) and his wife Rachel and children for a few weeks of simple country food (bread, cheese and onions- at which Georgette recoils- for dinner on her first night) and early nights. But put a beautiful and self-centred actress and a horny-handed sunburned son of toil (an example of the film's concern for detail is the exact placing of the line between sunburn and pale skin on Horace's neck) together and you'll get something like Sunrise a few years earlier.
Well, yes, it is easy to laugh. It's a stock situation and it's predictable in its outcome. On the other hand, it's a stock situation and it's predictable because it could easily happen. It's also well-filmed and acted and the actors stay this side of melodrama and are convincingly portrayed. It doesn't have the beauty of Sunrise- the rather too deliberate beauty: this is a countryside where a dramatic storm may push Georgette and Horace together, but it'll also destroy a year's wheat- but there are no absurd plots of murder either; the three main characters are shown as trapped by their own natures and situations but still doing their best to behave well in the circumstances and the details are precisely calculated and shown. The camera is still immobile, showing fixedly what is in front of it, but cutting from scene to close-up and from character to character is well-done and the shots of characters on the farm place them well. Suspend your disbelief, accept the conventions of silent movies and you'll see a fine and well-performed film.
Well, yes, it is easy to laugh. It's a stock situation and it's predictable in its outcome. On the other hand, it's a stock situation and it's predictable because it could easily happen. It's also well-filmed and acted and the actors stay this side of melodrama and are convincingly portrayed. It doesn't have the beauty of Sunrise- the rather too deliberate beauty: this is a countryside where a dramatic storm may push Georgette and Horace together, but it'll also destroy a year's wheat- but there are no absurd plots of murder either; the three main characters are shown as trapped by their own natures and situations but still doing their best to behave well in the circumstances and the details are precisely calculated and shown. The camera is still immobile, showing fixedly what is in front of it, but cutting from scene to close-up and from character to character is well-done and the shots of characters on the farm place them well. Suspend your disbelief, accept the conventions of silent movies and you'll see a fine and well-performed film.
