An implausible tale that is confused further by the deterioration of the print, which is at it's worst during a key scene. It's unlikely that even a pristine copy would rescue this one from the sheer silliness of a plot which is so at odds with the film's otherwise quietly reflective tone.
3 Reviews
"Oh, by the way, now that we're married . . . "
cricket301 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
" . . . and have a toddler daughter, did I ever mention that I have a brother off in the military?" In the whole of human history, I cannot think of one wife who neglected to mention an item of trivia of this magnitude to her husband. Yet, the logic behind FIRESIDE REMINISCENSES collapses unless you can suspend your disbelief, and picture a bride so forgetful that the existence of her sibling would not pop into her head during the many years she was courted, wed, reproduced, and child-reared with her husband. Further, you must buy that her elderly-looking spouse could man-handle a younger, stronger looking representative of the U.S. military, whose first thought when seeing his sister thrown violently to the floor, and then suffering the same fate himself, would be to turn tail and flee. No, wait, the mom's brother must be fatally injured, as she spends THE NEXT THREE YEARS camped at the gate of her husband's estate--through the heat of day, rain, snow, and whatnot--monitored by her abusive spouse on the home entertainment center he somehow found in 1908 and had installed in his former fireplace. This just goes to show how dangerous it is to visit your married sister WITHOUT A GUN!!
Deterioration To the Print Makes It Hard To Evaluate
Snow Leopard5 August 2005
The rather severe deterioration to the surviving print of this short drama makes it very hard to evaluate, especially since the key sequence shows some of the worst damage. The story in itself is melodramatic to the point of being implausible, and whatever dramatic value it may have had would likely have come from the sequence of the "Fireside Reminiscences".
The plot was adapted from a song that was popular at the time, which told of a man who lost his love over a misunderstanding. This movie version expands the story and makes the main characters married. After the conflict in the opening scene, the movie moves ahead to show the husband's sequence of memories as he sits by the fireplace. This is one of the sequences that has been badly damaged over time, so that only a few moments of footage are free of heavy blurring and other defects.
From the few frames that are still clear, it looks as if the reminiscence sequence was the result of some careful work, and it probably once looked very good for the era. If nothing else, it was clearly designed to pull at the viewer's emotions, and to make up for any implausibility in the main story line. The film-makers seem to have made good use of double exposures and the like, but unfortunately the results of their efforts have been too badly damaged by time for today's viewers to see what this movie was like originally.
The plot was adapted from a song that was popular at the time, which told of a man who lost his love over a misunderstanding. This movie version expands the story and makes the main characters married. After the conflict in the opening scene, the movie moves ahead to show the husband's sequence of memories as he sits by the fireplace. This is one of the sequences that has been badly damaged over time, so that only a few moments of footage are free of heavy blurring and other defects.
From the few frames that are still clear, it looks as if the reminiscence sequence was the result of some careful work, and it probably once looked very good for the era. If nothing else, it was clearly designed to pull at the viewer's emotions, and to make up for any implausibility in the main story line. The film-makers seem to have made good use of double exposures and the like, but unfortunately the results of their efforts have been too badly damaged by time for today's viewers to see what this movie was like originally.
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