drednm
Joined May 2000
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drednm's rating
Story based on a true event when in 1939 a kid is with his family trying to climb Mt. Katahdin but they all wimp out and the kid gets pissed and runs off, only to get lost for 9 days in the wilds.
Sad to say this is a long, dreary film with amateurish acting. There are some old interviews with people involved and even some actual newsreel footage when the kid is saved. But the story is badly told. If I remember right, this premiered this past summer at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.
For me the real cheat is that the entire film, despite the title, was made in Upstate New York and some Katahdin shots were actually just a model of the mountain in a studio. There's also stock aerial footage. No Maine. The family was actually from Rye, NY and only summered in Maine a few years.
Also, there's all this baloney "lore" about the Indian spirit that haunts Katahdin, which I never heard before in my life. It could be true, I suppose.
Good story, badly told.
Sad to say this is a long, dreary film with amateurish acting. There are some old interviews with people involved and even some actual newsreel footage when the kid is saved. But the story is badly told. If I remember right, this premiered this past summer at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville.
For me the real cheat is that the entire film, despite the title, was made in Upstate New York and some Katahdin shots were actually just a model of the mountain in a studio. There's also stock aerial footage. No Maine. The family was actually from Rye, NY and only summered in Maine a few years.
Also, there's all this baloney "lore" about the Indian spirit that haunts Katahdin, which I never heard before in my life. It could be true, I suppose.
Good story, badly told.
Alas, The Desert Bride (1928) just isn't very good despite having the wonderful Betty Compson as its star.
Standard tale of the Middle East. In a French colony (probably Syria) Compson is visiting her military uncle (Edward Martindel) and meets the "dashing" Captain Deveraux (a very UN-dashing Allan Forrest). Their love is played out against the "revolting natives" who are planning to attack the military post and take back their ancient land.
In the end, the Captain is captured and tortured but won't talk, so the rebels grab Compson and threaten to torture her too. He still won't talk, so they dress her up in Arab gear and put her up for sale on the auction block. THAT does it!
Everything about this Columbia release looks cheap (just my opinion). Otto Matieson plays a rebel boss and Roscoe Karns is the comedy relief, mostly chasing local women. On the plus side, Betty Compson is very beautiful.
Standard tale of the Middle East. In a French colony (probably Syria) Compson is visiting her military uncle (Edward Martindel) and meets the "dashing" Captain Deveraux (a very UN-dashing Allan Forrest). Their love is played out against the "revolting natives" who are planning to attack the military post and take back their ancient land.
In the end, the Captain is captured and tortured but won't talk, so the rebels grab Compson and threaten to torture her too. He still won't talk, so they dress her up in Arab gear and put her up for sale on the auction block. THAT does it!
Everything about this Columbia release looks cheap (just my opinion). Otto Matieson plays a rebel boss and Roscoe Karns is the comedy relief, mostly chasing local women. On the plus side, Betty Compson is very beautiful.
Breezy Charles Ray film has him as a country boy who dreams of being a detective. So he leaves the farm and gets a job at a health resort where he keeps finding "clues" but they don't add up to anything ... yet.
The resort is full of odd people and eventually the clues lead him to a crook disguised among the residents.
Winifred Westover co-stars as a chorus girl named Pinky. Ray was a major box office star from the mid-1910s through the end of the silent era. He specialized in this sort of innocent character who faces the perils of the city and wins the day but not always the girl.
Most of his silent films are lost so it's always nice to see a new Charles Ray film released on disk.
The resort is full of odd people and eventually the clues lead him to a crook disguised among the residents.
Winifred Westover co-stars as a chorus girl named Pinky. Ray was a major box office star from the mid-1910s through the end of the silent era. He specialized in this sort of innocent character who faces the perils of the city and wins the day but not always the girl.
Most of his silent films are lost so it's always nice to see a new Charles Ray film released on disk.