1914 - THE WISHING RING: An Idyll of Old England, a little charmer of a comedy

For an early silent picture, The Wishing Ring was a pretty delightful film to watch.  From the opening scene of a chorus of women prancing in front of a Proscenium stage to the final tracking shot, the director Maurice Tourneur showed a pretty deft touch with the actors and the gentle humor of the story.

A young girl thinks she has purchased a magical ring from some gypsies and uses it to fix the relationship between a rich land owner and his son.

This little piece of whimsy only about about an hour long, but considering some of the more recent love stories I have sat through, seems a lot more realistic and contemporary than a lot of love stories.  These types of films are still extremely hard to do.

Maurice Tourneur was a strong visual director and he was also  smart enough to know not to pad out this story with a lot of irrelevant detail.

54 minutes.

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1920 - THE LAST OF THE MOHICIANS, another good silent film

The Indians are all played by white guys, there is the usual eye rolling silent acting, and they cut out major parts of the Cooper's book.  But this is still a very good version of The Last Of The Mohicians.

The directors are Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown.   Tourneur was the father of Jacques Tourneur and a good early silent film director.  Clarence Brown was a strong studio director and worked for MGM for many years.  These guys were craftsman in the best sense.  Tourneur and Brown took James Fenimore Cooper's boring book and cut it down to a decent little movie that emphasized the action and the love story between the native American and the white woman. 

A lot of the film was filmed on location at Yosemite National Park which gives it an authentic look.  The action scenes and fights are well directed and have some contemporary camera shots.

At 73 minutes this is an excellent well made early silent film with good action, beautiful on location scenery and good storytelling.