When it comes to quality silent film releases on home video, Milestone Films is one of the top companies. The British film HINDLE WAKES is a masterpiece. It shows fully what the silent cinema was capable of when all the necessary elements were in place. Based on a famous play about life in the Lancashire mills (the title refers to vacation time for mill workers in a small town), it was a British version of A DOLL'S HOUSE which scandalized audiences in 1912 with its plucky heroine who defied convention and was determined to live her life her way. The storyline is traditional soap opera. A mill foreman's daughter has a romance with the mill owner's son and the problems and conflicts it has on their respective families.
What made the play important was the statement that women had the right to choose their own lives. What makes the film a masterpiece is its use of documentary style footage of the mills and the vacation spot Blackpool (a British version of Coney Island) to highlight and emphasize the lives of the characters and the conflicts they face. It's like a silent film version of ANGELA'S ASHES. The photography is absolutely astonishing as it creates images that linger in the mind long afterwards (especially the Blackpool scenes). This is one of the greatest virtues of silent cinema. The acting from the leads down to the smallest parts is flawless drawing us into the characters and not allowing us to let them go. Rarely have I seen such a perfect balance between the acting and the technical aspects of a silent film. It is simply exquisite. HINDLE WAKES was obviously a big influence on King Vidor's THE CROWD which came out a year later.
High praise should also be given to In The Nursery, the British group who scored the film. It is among the best modern scores that I have ever heard accompanying a silent film and easily the best to incorporate a synthesizer. There is also a traditional piano score by Philip Carli which is also quite good on its own terms. The British Film Institute restored this movie in 2001. If you're a fan of dramatic silent films (as opposed to silent comedy) then it doesn't get any better than this. Thanks again to Milestone Films for giving us yet another high quality little known silent film...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
