One of the most distinguished names in the history of cinema is David Wark Griffith, one of the pioneers of cinema, an important part of the development of this art throughout its evolution in the classical stage, before and after the sound, figure irrecusable of American cinema at its best. By the time of producing this film, the great Griffith had already entered the immortal Olympus of cinema thanks to his referential films
The Birth of a Nation (1915) and
Intolerance (1916), mythical productions that marked the future of cinema worldwide, and that earned him a solid reputation internationally. With these gleaming scrolls, the Yankee master adapts a Gordon Ray Young novel, of relatively controversial themes for the time, supporting himself in Stanner E.V. Taylor for the writing of the script. With these bases, Griffith elaborates his film, in which on a remote island in the middle of the South Seas, apart from all civilization, live many natives, an alcoholic individual reaches the island, as well as the nephew of a fanatic religious; young men will be attracted by a beautiful young girl, then unleashing a battle, both sentimental, for the affections of her, as religious, when pagans and Christians are confronted. A Griffith movie, enough incentive.
On an island, we see many natives, there the Reverend Franklyn Blythe (George MacQuarrie) cares for them, some Christians, others pagans. There lives also the old Thomas (Herbert Sutch), with his adopted daughter Mary (Clarine Seymour), attractive girl, almost a woman. She finds on the beach Dan McGuire (Richard Barthelmess), drunk, takes him to her cabin. For his part, Walter Kincaid (Creighton Hale), nephew of the Reverend, also arrives to the island, meets Dan, believer and atheist meet each other, they have differences, and with Mary they spend time together. Then, an ambitious merchant from the island (Anders Randolf) is tempted by valuable pearls, and he also looks at Mary. While she goes through the forest, both young male watch her, Dan feels jealous when he sees her with Kincaid, gets drunk, tries to approach the girl by force, she rejects him, but deep down she likes him. The Reverend, aware, draws attention to his nephew, who falls very ill, disease from which he recovers, with help from Mary, and Dan, moved by what happened, decides to stop drinking. Meanwhile, the ambition of the merchant grows, will clash with the Reverend, who entrenches himself in his house, there is a confrontation, in which Walter and the pagan natives participate; the merchant is finally defeated. Dan, being about to leave, finds out that Mary corresponds his feelings, they stay together.
Griffith is a mythical surname in the history and development of the history of cinema, was influential for many huge filmmakers, not only Americans but also Europeans, some accepting such influence, others denying it, but the truth is that his films came to set up many foundations. Just to mention an example quickly, his Intolerance was the one that established that tradition of gathering stories from different eras and different characters, with some common threads, this latter being able to vary, in the intensity of that common bond; thus they saw the light Destiny (1921), also called The Three Lights, by the great Fritz Lang, or Leaves from Satan's Book (1920), of the Danish master Dreyer. And continuing in that sense of influences, but already approaching to the film that concerns us now, we will see that Fritz Lang on his side, with his two parts of The Spiders (1919) -originally the project included 4 films-, even with his Harakiri (1919), and now Griffith also, evidenced that apparently the subject of the exotic places bustled at the end of the first decade of the past century, and millennia, those remote areas with their corresponding exotic inhabitants were something that attracted the filmmakers in the years in which the cinema began to take shape. Yes, the exoticism seems to have seduced the filmmakers then, an untamed, wild environment, surrounded by domains of nature, without civilization, is the scenario where all the vicissitudes will occur, where the intense clashes will happen, where a reverend will fight against natives, violence will break out, hand in hand with ambition; an inevitable situation in which, however, a union flows, the closest thing to a marriage in the midst of uncivilized domains, among indigenous people. Putting the film in context, Griffith already came with his copious production of short films, hundreds of works on his back, in addition to the aforementioned feature films The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance; his film legacy was already imperishable, but the genius still had much more to offer: this same year, 1920, Way Down East would see the light. Thus, we will appreciate elements that make this film recognizable, a work of its author, first light and superficial tints of Griffith's forever cinema will flow, the everlasting white painted-face actors, made up in black or tan, to embody the natives, besides the nickname with which Mary is baptized, White flower of Almond, the only white girl in the middle of the group of natives.
But, more importantly, there will also be technical details that are recognizable, such as certain approaches when changing from one sequence to another, the always present circular focus of some images, and of course, the indelible logo of his name, his brand, that DG in each legend. Also, another of his filmic constants can be seen, the confrontation of antagonistic groups, of groups that have marked oppositions of diverse nature, political, racial, religious, north versus south, atheists versus Christians, duality is a constant in which the Griffith's cinema develops, and this film will be no exception. A wink undeniably
Griffith, is to see the children, one white, the other Indian, one dressed in pants and shirt, the other with a loincloth, simile figure to the cats of
The Birth of a Nation, one white and the other black; the symbolisms, the obvious allegories of the filmmaker are observed with the symbol of the trousers, first reason for dispute between the children, finally symbol of the union, that the confrontation has ended, that pagans and Christians have a truce, portrayed in the Indian child who wears those pants. As a good Westerner, in Griffith's vision, civilization finally prevails. As for the images and sequences that make up the film, there are some shots, some images, that take advantage of the natural space where some sequences are shot, images full of vegetation and the sea, together in some frames, like a beautiful and nostalgic postcard of the time, are not abundant images, but present in the film. It was then the dawn of the western cinematographic language, it was natural and logical that the film still does not shine in some aspects of the technical virtuosity, the tricks and resources with the camera had not yet been invented, a static camera is what prevails, something coherent to the time. The master, however, takes advantage of all the resources that he already has, nobody like him to raise the embryonic cinema of that time to the highest artistic heights, this is how the montage, the shots, the framings, the composition of those frames, and all the other existing resources, already available to a filmmaker then, are brought to a climax by this great cinema domaine. We will notice this when Griffith uses exemplary close-ups, a great tool, a great resource to delve into his characters, his inner tribulations, a positive resource that we see applied, although also in Walter, mostly in Dan, those close-ups then reach their greatest expression. Those close-ups bring us a little closer to his inner hell, with that great approach to his face that more than once we will see, and, supported by the silence of the cinematographic era, everything else is left out, we only see the introverted face of the protagonist. So, with the image of his face, his gestures, his histrionics is all we have to guess his dark past, to guess what it is that has plunged him into drink, he escapes from something, he hides something, his past pursues him, it does not abandon him, it has forced him to become a vagabond, who searches the beaches for some trinket, taking refuge in alcohol. His previous torment is not detailed to us, we can only guess it, and imagine that he shows himself reticent probably over that, and those shots are the ones that serve as a vehicle to try to understand more the character.
That resource is taken further, when at times the background of Dan's close-ups is deformed, that powerful epiphanic moment in which he decides to stop drinking is a good example of it, with the close shots we are introduced to the character's feelings, and his environment, literally twisted; it is a moment in which the intense existential tessitura moves him to change his course, and the technical resource combines very well with the moment. Even, thanks to the aforementioned montage, we have different shots of the actors, the couple, Dan and Mary, Clarine Seymour and Richard Barthelmess, a shot of one character linked after another of his or her partner, making a parallel of their feelings, and of their infatuation. The center of everything largely becomes Mary, she is the
idol dancer, the idolized dancer, she coaxes with her dance, full of sensuality, desire and carnal awakening, first dazzles her own adoptive father, old Thomas, and then to the young protagonists, Dan and Walter will be enraptured by the girl and her rhythmic movements (although there is certainly no male character that is indifferent to her and her charms, half innocence, half lust); particularly the correct and retracted Kincaid we see dazzled, but it is in Dan over who undoubtedly more effect makes the spell of the provocative girl. Now, the camera was mentioned, and its static development, however it is remarkable that, for her, for the idol that dances, the camera, almost always static, finally outlines movements, subtle landslides, in the moments in which the own cinematographic language was being defined, in which the camera began its gradual process of liberation, we see the camera of Griffith flirting with the attractive dancer. A young woman unleashes everything, a mixture of libidine and youth, in the middle of an uncivilized, isolated terrain, where pagans and Christians coexist and confront each other, where everything will explode in that final confrontation, the climax of the clash. This figure, that of a little girl who awakens to full femininity, to sexuality, driving men crazy in the middle of a desolate location, is a figure that we will later see repeated in different films by different directors. But sexuality is present not only in Mary, in civilization, but also in the wild, in the figure of Pansy, the indigenous woman who never tires of wiggling, who is also prey to sexuality, she is also a slave of her libido, but in its own way, the lasciviousness of the untamed; and it is that nobody is free of that sexual desire, she herself, Mary, is also prey to that sexuality, without noticing she is also a slave of those carnal impulses, of her desires, of her body. Jealousy, desire, sexuality, very human and intense feelings, the civilized confronting the uncivilized, certainly thematic that in more than one film of the North American master we can notice. It is a solid story, a staging that denoted that Griffith was an accomplished master, trained, experienced, expert, a central figure in the field, is a shoot of genius, without fissures, and many of his cornerstones are already contained here, the races, the clashes of antipodal groups, a tragic end as well, the already very experienced teacher gives us a great picture; but, as with many geniuses of the seventh art, many times a good movie pales alongside masterpieces of the magnitude of the brightest feature films of this titan. Thus, we have a serious film, but that does not reach the height of its cusps, it is what has to be a genius with so many immortal gems to his credit. Although overshadowed by other works by the Yankee titan, the film is not out of place, it is a great feature film, necessary, as it is one more brick in that great building that becomes the extraordinary filmography of this referential director.
Everything starts in the dark home of the Rog family, whose patriarch (Krauss) is dying. His eldest son Peter (Eugen Klöpfer), takes care of him; the old man calls his youngest son, Johannes (Vladimir Gajdarov). For his part, Count Rudenburg (Eduard von Winterstein) seeks a supposedly formidable treasure, buried under his property, without luck. The old man dies, Johannes can not take it any longer, he wants a different life from the peasant, he leaves the family farm, and Maria (Grete Diercks), who loves him. Gerda (Lya De Putti), daughter of the Count, is courted by Ludwig von Lellewel (Alfred Abel), whom she rejects, but he gets Johannes a job as secretary of Rudenburg, much to her delight, for she loves him. The Count has little time to live, he craves the treasure, an oil well, Johannes finds out by chance that Helga (Stella Arbenina), his second wife, will inherit it, awakens his ambition, and when the Count dies, he marries Helga. The young peasant soon sells the oil well for 25 million marks, ignoring that Helga sells it to his brother Peter for only 12,000; the sale to Peter is canceled, but she, knowing that Johannes only married for money from the well, commits suicide. The now widower suffers, then the well is destroyed in a fire, and he, collapsed, undoes all business with entrepreneurs, returns home, where his family waits with love, and stays with Mary.
The great Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe, known worldwide and imperishably as simply Murnau, had for the year in which this film was made, 1922, just three years of career, but already ten feature films produced, and a reputation, a respect, consideration earned, quickly became a benchmark of German, European, and certainly global cinema. This consideration is further increased when we notice the fact that the present film is made the same year in which Nosferatu materializes, all the power of probably the most recognized and venerated picture of his was still fresh, and it is perfectly remarkable that when we see all the visual power displayed in the film, especially, of course, in that first act where the darkness and the shady rule everything with a stifling iron fist. In that sense, it is simply extraordinary the opening of the film, in which not a single moment is wasted, because the first image, the first frame, is a powerful declaration of artistic intentions of the filmmaker, dark photography in small spaces, where already there are halos of sinister nature, phantasmagoric dyes, which are then corroborated by the story of death and demonic spirits that swarm at night, which terrify the Rog; seldomly seen so extraordinary and valid audio-visual proem, especially, again, from the initial frame. And yes, always in that first sequence, we see the characters talking with terror, of souls, of evil spirits, of the devil himself, even in another room, it is mentioned that the devil in person seems to have coaxed the Count, until he obsessed him insanely to find the treasure; with that hermetic and tense beginning, we feel more in a horror film, more it seems a characteristic work, the beginning of a story with all the elements of the expressionist horror cinema, a story that will then acquire other features, caresses of moralist fable that has in the visual aspect very enriching and valuable added. Soon that generated environment will find its extension, because even the aspect of the patriarch of the family, Werner Krauss, in his ephemeral appearance, invites the morbidity, the sordid dementia of the film, the valetudinarian individual will die, the nightmare is about to begin. That first act is something superb, could constitute a remarkable audiovisual story itself, we could consider it a small masterpiece separately, from its secluded site as a prelude to the film.
In his very coherent audio-visual language, Murnau unfolds the ever-present element of the stairs, one of the visual watchwords of expressionism, several stairs will repeatedly flow, the large, elegant and well-lit of the Count mansion; the dark and small of the humble house of the Rog, the stairs that vary in the framings, in the lighting, in their visual treatment, but that will not stop parading insistently in the film, always reinforcing that expressionist conciseness. The visual power of the film is therefore brutal, and one of the most remarkable sequences is when the old Count Rudenburg goes down to the well of his property to look for the oil fields, and a window in the form of a cross is the escape for the light of his lamp, and those beams of light, rocking, will draw unreal and mobile shadows, that scatter vaguely; great exercise, great game of lights and shadows, which again links the film with some expressionist jewels, and why not, with the distances of the case, but with a variety of a possibly common resource, I doubt to be the only one who has thought for a moment in that heartbreaking sequence of the outcome of Norman Bates and his mother in the Hitchcock classic. Complementing that visual richness we have the images in exteriors, those images of bleak winter, with those trees devoid of leaves, dry trees covered with snow, the icy snow flows while the characters are torn between cold and Machiavellian lies, outside it is frozen, like an extension of human suffering, the rows of trees, buildings, the white snow and the frozen roads, like ice lagoons, are significantly different locations to the rest in the film. That snow is so strong counterpoint to the darkness that reigns in the rest of the footage, it is noticeable that chromatically differentiated environments are generated. Only the fire will change those tonic in exteriors, from a generalized blue to red hot, in a sequence that has given some people to think that such a sequence could be more powerful, probably budget issues prevented that segment of the film to be shot more forcefully, or simply footage reasons. The music, which was probably added after the film production, and which frankly I do not know if it was added with master Murnau's consent or not -in that specific topic, and of course speaking of silent film, silent cinema, there is a variety of cases, with a respective variety of approvals or not by the author-, amalgamates well with history, and helps to generate that tension, that terror that plagues a good part of the film. Other sounds will be inserted, artificial as the bells that ring while Johannes learns the laughable sale of his gold mine, or diegetics, like the crows while Johannes is defining his future, the sound element also contributes. Is born in the film a severe contrast that Murnau prints, and we appreciate it in more than one of his works, the luxury and pomp of oil executives and their enclosures, abundant light, copious spaces, tall columns, large walls full of decorations, the pomp proper of wealthy executives, a very sensitive contrast, the counterpoint, the visual antipode of the gloomy austerity deployed in the environment of the Rog farm. Finally the moralistic ending runs, money and pomp are not synonymous with happiness, a happiness pursued by Johannes, leaving his home, only to find that happiness was always in his own home, with his feelings, with his roots, with family, and with his true love. In that end the biblical dyes that the filmmaker adopts are more remarkable, they will invade the film, that happy ending is produced, Johannes recovers the love, he recovers everything, he has final absolution, the love of the family never changed, now he has his expiation. Some viewers feel that ending as a bit forced, hasty or hurried, the youngest son returns as a child who learned his lesson, the prodigal son who apologizes to everyone, one by one, and finds forgiveness, with the moving moment in which he finds his room intact, as if he had never left, and he breathes a sigh of relief, he's home, it's all gone, the nightmare is over. Johannes, by the way, is undaunted throughout the film, the actor Vladimir Gajdarov stands out in his hardness, is the central character, the axis around which everything will happen, and his gesture almost never varies, intense representation of Russian. In the history we find social climbing, love, death, lies, ambition, and finally, after that tortuous road, the return to home, finally imposes the moral character of the film, there is a happy ending, there is light at the end of the tunnel. As mentioned before, the great Thea von Harbou is a strong incentive as a scriptwriter, as well as the mythical Werner Krauss, the unforgettable Doctor Caligari, the very Caligari appears, it matters little that fleetingly, emblematic figures of expressionism put their share in this great film, a genius works with other geniuses, the result had to be remarkable, Murnau was already a consecrated master, and his legend continued to grow. Thumping feature, perhaps not as mediatic as Nosferatu, The Last Laugh (1924), Faust (1926) or Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), the most lustrous works of the German master, but the well-prepared eye will know how to value this jewel of the thaumaturgical Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe, or how the world know and will remember for always, Murnau.
