The Enchanted Cottage

His body twisted and crippled by the Great War, Richard Barthelmess retreats to the cottage of blinded Major Holmes Herbert to live out his misanthropic existence far from the sight of anyone. But his butch sister, Florence Short, in order not be be married, proposes to come and tend him. In desperation, Barthelmess proposes awkwardly to poor, homely May McAvoy. It's rough at first, but then in the cottage, which has been the honeymoon site for couple for a quarter of a millennium, a strange transformation occurs. They realize Miss Mcvoy is beautiful, and that Barthelmess is strong.

Arthur Wing Pinero's play about the transformation of love, and what beauty and strength really are, is brought beautifully to the screen under the direction of John S. Robertson. It demonstrates the seriousness of actors in the silent era, that they were willing to appear on the screen in modes that were less than flattering to their looks. The movie is greatly affecting. I teared up at the ending, which is not something that every movie can accomplish, and which the 1945 talkie version starring Dorothy Maguire and Robert Young did not make me do. The score by the Monte Alto Orchestra is excellent. My only cavil is that it was a wordy play, and the film makers could not figure out how to make it much less wordy. There were far too many titles for Ed Lorusso's 26th Kickstarter-funded dvd.

Still, I am very glad to renew my acquaintance with this silent movie in a superior, although slightly soft print. I'm looking forward to no. 27!