June 21, 2010

79. Wild Oranges (1924)


Wild Oranges was directed by King Vidor, 30.
There was very little in this film that I liked, aside from Nigel De Brulier. The bayou and old buildings were impressive but that's about it.

 Once upon a time there was a man, John Woolfolk (Frank Mayo, 38) who was very much in love with his young bride

 there was an accident

 she died

 he set the sails to forget about what had been

 he ventured to uncharted areas and came upon an island where time stood still

 on the island lived a man called Litchfield Stope, played by my darling Nigel De Brulier (47)


 This must have been the easiest role Nigel ever played, because throughout the film he's required to do nothing but frown and looked terrified. But no complaints about that, cos he does it beautifully.




 Charles A. Post, 27 as a deranged bully boy

Woolfolk spotted a young lady in the water


 Virginia Valli, 26, as Stope's grandchild Millie, a waif type of character. 
She irritated me a lot. As did her wigs.








Millie and John forge a friendship of sorts against all the odds




both are equally hurt by life and feel too messed up to connect on a deeper level

 the bully boy lusts after Millie




 John attempts to leave but has to return when he notices he misses the young creature too much




 the next best thing to Nigel



 John wants to rescue Millie and her grandfather from the bully boy


 they try to escape

 but the bully finds out

 and kills the old lord...

 ...and ties Millie up.
Then he strokes her all over with a mad gleam in his eye


 John charges in and they have a bloody fight, it was about as intense as the final fight in Tol'able David

 a fire destroys the old mansion

while the dog watches.

There's loads of dramatic action in the end but I was only into watching Nigel so there's no more stills of the ending. You have to watch this for yourself. Personally I can't recommend it as it's quite syrupy. I blame the cast.



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