This film would not have been as good as it is if it had been performed with sound dialogue. It is a prime example of why silent cinema performed via pantomime is interesting today. The story is basically about how two sweet innocent people, when cruelly separated by an injustice and kept apart by bad timing, end up turning to a life of crime when left friendless on the streets of Paris. The boy, Jean, does so with gusto. Marise does so after trying all forms of manual labor to scrape by and getting whacked to the curb one too many times by the closing of factories where she has found employment, and even by being fired by a boss when she rejects his advances.
One of the most shattering scenes to me is when Marise (Enid Bennett) rescues from the police someone whom she thinks is just some random man on the streets of Paris. Instead, it is her former fiancé, Jean (Ramon Navarro) turned into the thief he was wrongly accused of being years before. When he sees her haggard face compared to "the face of an angel" memory, and sees what she has been reduced to in terms of making a living, he turns all of his anger on her. At first she is ashamed, blurting out excuses, but soon she accepts his derision as what you feel she has become accustomed to. The young man even takes her to his fellow-thief friends and laughs at her, trying to stamp out any memories of his feelings. Ramon Navarro rocks quite convincingly between loathing and love in these scenes, and although much has been justly said about Enid Bennett's performance here, I think we need to give Ramon Navarro his dues too.
This film is artfully shot and, up to the last couple of minutes, takes you to a very dark but believable place. The last two minutes are the reason I give this one eight instead of ten stars, because even though it is the ending you want to see, it does not seem plausible. Highly recommended in spite of the tacked on ending.
One of the most shattering scenes to me is when Marise (Enid Bennett) rescues from the police someone whom she thinks is just some random man on the streets of Paris. Instead, it is her former fiancé, Jean (Ramon Navarro) turned into the thief he was wrongly accused of being years before. When he sees her haggard face compared to "the face of an angel" memory, and sees what she has been reduced to in terms of making a living, he turns all of his anger on her. At first she is ashamed, blurting out excuses, but soon she accepts his derision as what you feel she has become accustomed to. The young man even takes her to his fellow-thief friends and laughs at her, trying to stamp out any memories of his feelings. Ramon Navarro rocks quite convincingly between loathing and love in these scenes, and although much has been justly said about Enid Bennett's performance here, I think we need to give Ramon Navarro his dues too.
This film is artfully shot and, up to the last couple of minutes, takes you to a very dark but believable place. The last two minutes are the reason I give this one eight instead of ten stars, because even though it is the ending you want to see, it does not seem plausible. Highly recommended in spite of the tacked on ending.