BEYOND THE ROCKS - DVD review

The modern Hollywood economic model depends so heavily on revenue from ancillary markets that we can be certain every film made today will be preserved, from Oscar winners all the way down to the very last frame of a Rob Schneider film. In the silent film era, however, distributors viewed films as products with a short shelf-life, meant to be screened in brief theatrical runs, then most likely never seen again. Silent films were shot on nitrate stock, which was expensive to store properly. With no economic incentive to do otherwise, many distributors simply discarded the films; some studios actually burned the nitrate prints and negatives in order to recover the silver in them. As a result, film scholars estimate that as many as eighty to ninety percent of the films of the silent era no longer exist.

Many of the early films that did survive were salvaged by the work of early preservationists like New York's Museum of Modern Art and the late, great Henri Langlois in France. Others were squirreled away by private collectors over the years, and these "lost" films only resurface when these collections come to light. Such was the case in 2000 when Dutch collector Joop van Liempd gave part of his enormous and eclectic film collection to the Nederlands Filmmuseum. The collection contained many wonderful old films, but museum workers were both delighted and shocked to find a reel of film featuring silent film actors Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. This could only be "Beyond the Rocks" (1922), the sole movie to star both screen legends, and a film previously believed to be long-lost. After four years of prospecting through van Liempd's sprawling (and often poorly labeled) collection, Filmmuseum workers unearthed the entire film. Amazingly, the fragile nitrate print survived mostly intact (alas, a fabled tango scene with Swanson and Valentino was never found), though the footage still required substantial restoration.

The discovery is an exciting one for any film historian even though "Beyond the Rocks" is a fairly mundane film. "Beyond the Rocks" is a classic tale of star-crossed lovers. Theodora Fitzgerald (Swanson) first meets the dashing Lord Hector Bracondale (Valentino) when he rescues her from a boating accident. Their passion is ignited instantly, but they are soon parted. Theodora marries a much older man for his money, but her Swiss Alps honeymoon leads to complications when she is once again rescued by Hector (who just happens to be in the area), this time from a nearly fatal plunge off a mountain. Poor Theodora is definitely not the outdoors type. These early rescues get the pulse racing a bit, but the film soon settles into an uninspired and rather maudlin routine: Theodora and Hector must deny their love for each other, but alas they cannot bear to be apart, and so on. The love triangle gets particularly complex when the husband discovers his wife's illicit affair, and quite naturally decides… to go on an African safari where he is attacked by rebels. Hey, it's a melodrama, these kinds of things happen.

The film gets some mileage out of its exotic settings (Paris, the Alps, the Sahara), but director Sam Wood's leaden photography is a real drag (much like it is in the Marx Bros. film "A Night at the Opera"). Wood never met a static tableau he didn't love, and virtually every scene (whether in a ski resort, or in the middle of the Sahara) looks exactly the same, with the characters shot at medium-length and held in the dead-center of the frame. The story is riddled with clichés and offers few surprises, though the ending is worth discussing. Theodora's dying husband not only forgives his wife, but actually gives his blessing to Hector and her. If "Beyond the Rocks" had been made just fifteen years later, in Hays' Code Hollywood, the would-be adulterous wife would have been required to be punished severely for her unchaste thoughts. Swanson and Valentino are natural stars, of course, but both have delivered far more compelling performances. Still, this was their only screen pairing, and fans will cherish the film if only for that. A new score composed by Henny Vrienten for this release is perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the film; classical and jazzy, playful and somber, this eclectic score is a real treat.

The DVD includes a second film as an extra, but it merits treatment here. "The Delicious Little Devil" (1919) is a 54 min. feature that is listed as starring Valentino and Mae Murray, but old Rudy is an afterthought here compared to magnificent Mae. Louise Brooks is the unchallenged queen of the silent era (and any other) as far as I'm concerned, but Mae Murray was something special too. Mae Murray was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips." I have no idea what "Bee-Stung Lips" are, but I know I like them. Murray was a hoofer (a Zeigfeld girl, in fact) who made it big on the silver screen. She was a perfect silent film star, not only beautiful, but a gifted physical performer (as you would expect a dancer to be) who made every movement and gesture count. Apparently, her voice didn't pass muster, however, and her career ended with the advent of the sound era.

In "Delicious Little Devil," Murray plays a hat-check girl who gets fired, then masquerades at the mistress of a disreputable duke in order to get a high-paying job as a cabaret dancer. The film works entirely because of Murray's irresistible magnetism; Valentino is a limp noodle, and the real tragedy of this sometimes-comedy is that Mae is forced to choose between a lecherous duke and milquetoast Rudy. You may not know Mae Murray, whose most famous role was probably in Erich von Stroheim's "The Merry Widow," but she is something special. It must be those bee-stung lips.

"Delicious Little Devil" was also recovered and preserved by the Nederlands Filmmuseum in 1991. Far more than a mere extra, it's easily the better of the two films on the DVD.

Video

Given the circumstances, the image quality is absolutely stunning. One of the extras illustrates just how much work went into the restoration, and it sure pays off. A few shots were too badly damaged to be restored, including one exterior shot of a train which is little more than a blur on screen, but who's complaining? The image quality on "Delicious Little Devil" is less impressive. I don't think the restoration there was nearly as extensive. However, the main problem is the considerable flaking, rather than any loss of resolution. I'm rating this one a "10" for video in recognition of the extraordinary restoration efforts by the Nederlands Filmmuseum.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. The score on "Beyond the Rocks" sounds fabulous, which is obviously all that matters for this silent film. In case you're wondering, the Dutch intertitles from the source print have been replaced with English intertitles by Milestone.

Extras

In addition to "Delicious Little Devil," this DVD is packed with several short, but illuminating extras.

In just six minutes, Giovanna Fossati provides a concise, yet detailed description of the restoration process, which just about any viewer will learn from. The film required both digital and photochemical restoration, each of which presented its own challenges. Usually, these "about the restoration" features drag on far too long, but in this case, I could have listened to Fossati talk for another hour.

An even shorter feature (3 min.) shows Henry Vrienten at work while composing the new score for "Beyond the Rocks." This is a poetic, lovely little piece.

A Dutch TV program (20 min.) about the finding of "Beyond the Rocks" actually has two subjects: the discovery of the film, and the equally fascinating story of collector Joop van Liempd. A local eccentric and obsessive-compulsive, van Liempd sounds an awful lot like a Dutch incarnation of Henri Langlois, though without the cachet of the Cinémathèque or a cult following of cinephiles to help make him famous.

An 85-minute wire recording of Gloria Swanson from 1955 is used as a "commentary track" to "Beyond the Rocks." I only listened to a few minutes of this one, so I can't offer an opinion on it. You also have the option of watching the film with a short (approx. 2 min.) introduction by Martin Scorsese.

The disc also includes two Valentino Trailers, and a Stills Gallery. Finally, the DVD offers a considerable amount of historical documentation which is accessible by DVD-Rom from your computer: original scripts, press kits, etc.

Film Value

"Beyond the Rocks" is more an exciting historical find than an engaging motion picture, but the opportunity to see Swanson and Valentino on screen together is certainly worth your time. Its very existence is a testament to the vital contributions that film preservationists can make, and anybody who cares about cinema should extend warm thanks to the Nederlands Filmmuseum for their tireless efforts in making this movie available today. In fact, thanks to this DVD, far more people have a chance to see "Beyond the Rocks" in 2006 than did back in 1922. The inclusion of the sharp and entertaining "Delicious Little Devil" as an extra makes this DVD worthy of a strong recommendation.

Milestone (along with New Yorker Video) has released two impressive historical finds on DVD this month. If you are interested in "Beyond the Rocks," you should also check out the Milestone release of "Electric Edwardians," an amazing selection of short films from the recently discovered and restored Mitchell and Kenyon collection.