Chances is among the most remarkable of all World War I films. Romance counterpointed to scenes of combat is a conventional mixture, but Dwan's seamless presentation communicates both poignancy and horror.
--Myron Meisel, American Directors Volume I (McGraw-Hill, 1983)
Dwan's name is unknown to most filmgoers but in his long career (1911-1961) he directed over 400 films ( his earliest films were silent short Westerns), many of which were low budget, high quality movies, and we know how aware Dwan was of D.W. Griffith because Dwan assisted Griffith on his great epic Intolerance (1916). Chances is some ways reminds one of Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915) in its story of a romance compromised by war. Jack (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) and Tom (Anthony Bushell) are both in love with Molly (Rose Hobart) when they are called to the war's front in 1914, with Tom thinking he is engaged to Molly when she actually loves Jack and they consummate their relationship when Jack goes on leave. Jack brings back a picture of Molly which Tom thinks was meant for him and Tom is devastated when Jack tells him the truth, just before they go into battle. Tom is shot and Jack risks his own life to save him. Tom dies and Jack loses an arm, as he returns to Molly in a London fog like the one in which they first met.
Dwan directs with confidence and intelligence, directing the actors to express themselves with facial expressions and body language and keeping dialogue to an effective limit. The film's seventy-minutes move quickly as it goes from foggy London to a party at a country estate to the war in France (the horror of the war is shown in mostly nighttime shots) and back to London. Working with cinematographer Ernest Haller (who photographed ten movies in 1931) Dwan creates impressive moods using tracking shots that imprison the actors within their limited enviroments.
No comments:
Post a Comment