Here at Old Time Review, we try to bring knowledge and appreciation of vintage and classic entertainment. Our aim is to provide commentary and information on films, music, television and radio, often from eras which has begun to slip away into the recesses of time. With our Retrospective Review series, we have turned the clock back to early cinema in a slightly different way.
Sometimes, a film may have been entirely lost through the aging process and the volatility of the materials available at the time. In cases such as this, we decided to turn to contemporaneous impressions of the film upon its first release. When delving into magazine archives, we found that there is a wealth of comment from the era of silent film by critics and reviewers. It adds another dimension to read what was thought of a release in its own time, without knowledge of all the developments and stories that have been discovered and explored during the intervening decades.
In this article, we discuss a 1918 film entitled Woman. It starred Florence Billings, Warren Cook, Ethel Hallor, Henry West, Flore Revalles, Paul Clerget, Diana Allen, Escamillo Fernandez, Gloria Goodwin, Chester Barnett, Faire Binney, Warner Richmond, Lyn Donaldson and Rose Rolanda. It was directed and produced by Maurice Tourneur. Woman has a running time of 70 minutes.
The review we feature on Woman is by Julian Johnson from a January 1919 edition of Photoplay magazine.
The Review:
‘Maurice Tourneur’s new picture, an extensive allegory with the one-word name above, is one of the most beautiful things physically that has ever been made, with the most superb lighting and photography, and further evidences of Mr. Tourneur’s positive genius in grouping and general composition. Nevertheless, it has one cardinal fault: a lack of any sustained interest, composed as it is of separate and distinct episodes, with no central human theme to bind all these together. In argument, it is an exposition of woman’s place, and service to the human race, throughout the ages. Most of the episodes show woman at her worst : Eve led Adam astray in the Garden; Messalina, wife of the just Emperor Claudius might be described by many evil words; Heloise, a virgin, is responsible tor the death of the philosopher-monk, Abelard; the fisherman is deceived by Cyrene, the lady from the sea; the Civil War soldier is betrayed for a trinket. The prologue and epilogue, however, are entirely modern, and are of an identical interest. As a beautiful exposition of camera art, “Woman” is the event of the year; as a drama, it wears the same curse that “Intolerance” wore. Tourneur starts nowhere, and arrives gloriously and artistically at his destination–the same place. Many people, including such women as the celebrated Russian dancer Flora Revalles, Diana Allen, Gloria Goodwin, Ethel Hallor, Fair Binney and Florence Hillings, participate.’
Woman appears to have been a sort of anthology piece. Johnson seems torn between its success as a visual feast and the lack of a cohesive or compelling overall story. In hindsight, I believe something which sounds like a compilation of vignettes could be easy to digest for an audience less accustomed to absorbing a story through purely visual means. It may be a good film to recommend to someone who is just beginning to explore silent film. While the lack of a more long form narrative could make it difficult to keep motivation to stay with Woman for the entire 70 minutes, it can require less concentration and comprehension to decipher a small piece at a time.
Johnson’s review implies that he does not altogether approve of the type of story told about the female gender. He makes the observation that largely negative or critical points of view are explored. A film entitled Woman ought–to read between the lines–to represent a fairer and more complete picture of the subject in the title. It may be inferred, then, that Tourneur’s and writer Charles E. Whittaker’s efforts are cynical and unbalanced.
In 1919, it seems there was no type of grading system for film reviews. But it might be imagined that Johnson, were he equipped with such a concept, might have awarded a low-to-medium level of stars to this release.
Maurice Tourneur was a French film director. Notable among his many works, which extended well into the sound era, are the films Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Bluebird (1918) and The Last of the Mohicans (1920) are preserved in the National Film Registry for their cultural significance.
Although film copies of Woman are held in film archives and private collections around the world, it does not appear to be available to buy or stream anywhere at the present time.
Thanks to the Internet Archive, which hosts the scans of Photoplay magazine.
