"The Ocean Waif" is a 40-minute black-and-white short film from 1916, so it's gonna have its 100th anniversary in roughly a year. The director is Alice Guy in her early 40s and this is already among her later career efforts. She did not make the transition into the sound era, but made over 400 films, mostly short films, between 1896 and 1920. "The Ocean Waif" is also a nice little play on words and it seems Guy really liked these. She has some fairly funny and smart movie title in her body of work. And looking at the duration of this film, it also shows that she was not scared of pretty long movies. Yep 40 minutes was considered long during that time. Just ask Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, whose films usually did not cross the 25-minute mark. At least not before 1920.
Unfortunately, in terms of the action, I cannot be too positive here. It starts interestingly with a case of domestic violence, but after the woman leaves humiliated and in anger, the level drops a bit for the rest of the film. Oh yeah, do not be fooled by piano soundtracks and similar stuff. This is obviously still a silent film. Not one of Guy's best though in my opinion. Thumbs down.
Unfortunately, in terms of the action, I cannot be too positive here. It starts interestingly with a case of domestic violence, but after the woman leaves humiliated and in anger, the level drops a bit for the rest of the film. Oh yeah, do not be fooled by piano soundtracks and similar stuff. This is obviously still a silent film. Not one of Guy's best though in my opinion. Thumbs down.